The tiny radioactive capsule that had been lost in Western Australia in mid-January has been found and had been searched for days along a route of about 1,400 kilometres, from the Gudai-Darri mining plant, north of the town of Newman, up to Perth, much further south. Australian Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said the capsule was found on Wednesday morning about 50km south of Newman, along the route where it had been lost between 11 and 16 January.
In a press conference, Dawson said he wanted to “underline how extraordinary it is” that the radioactive capsule has been found: “the search teams have really found the needle in the haystack,” he commented.
The radioactive capsule was found by a team composed of members of the government department that deals with fire and emergency management and people from the national organization for nuclear science and technology. It had left to be transported from the Rio Tinto mining plant to Perth on 11 January, under the responsibility of a third party company. When the courier had arrived at its destination, despite the due precautions having been taken for transport, the capsule was no longer there. Rio Tinto had communicated his loss on January 25, after having carried out some checks.
The news of the loss had immediately started the search for the tiny capsule, which is cylindrical in shape, with a diameter of 6 millimeters and a height of 8 millimeters. The leak had created a lot of concern: the capsule contains a small amount of cesium-137 (a by-product of the nuclear fission of uranium, used in some sensors for various types of measurements) capable of causing serious health problems in case of contact .
The area where the capsule was lost is among the least populated in Australia. However, there was the possibility that someone would find it and handle it without the necessary precautions, as well as the possibility – however remote – that it could get stuck in the tires of a car or a truck, being transported elsewhere, in areas where more people live.
