The poisonous capsule lacking in WA is more likely to stay radioactive for 300 years and the probabilities of discovering it are extraordinarily slim, consultants have warned.
A public well being warning was issued on Friday afternoon after the 6-8mm capsule containing a small amount of radioactive caesium-137 was reported misplaced in transit between Rio Tinto’s mine north of Newman, and a depot in Malaga.
Professor of Medical Imaging Science at University of Sydney, Dale Bailey, stated monitoring it down can be like “finding a needle in a haystack”.
“If the radioactive material is never found it will continue to disappear by natural radioactive decay down to the same level as the surrounding background over a period of about 300 years,” he advised The West Australian.
Authorities launched a mass search operation when the possibly lethal capsule was reported lacking on January 25.
Additional specialised tools from the Federal Government arrived in WA on Monday to spice up the efforts.
“The equipment can be mounted to vehicles so a thorough search can be conducted from moving vehicles at around 50km/h,” DFES Incident Controller Darryl Ray stated.
“It will take approximately five days to travel the original route, an estimated 1400kms, with crews travelling north and south along Great Northern Highway.”
Mr Ray stated extra tools was set to reach on Wednesday.
Associate Professor Nigel Marks from Curtin’s School of Electrical Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences stated both method it could take “monumental effort” to seek out the capsule.
He additionally criticised the container used to move the possibly harmful substance.
“A wooden palette is not meant for radioactive confinement,” Professor Marks stated.
“Nor is the back of a truck. It’s a small object, roughly the size of a pebble, and hence could bounce anywhere.”
While the general public have been warned to remain no less than 5 metres away from the capsule — which might trigger burns to the pores and skin — each professors agreed it shouldn’t pose a menace to the setting if authorities fail to seek out it.
“If no one or no animal comes in contact with it, it will not be a problem,” Professor Bailey stated.
“Were the container to be physically breached and the radioactive material to find its way into a waterway, for example, it is still unlikely to be a problem as the radioactive material is incorporated into a ceramic matrix and will not dissolve in the water.”
Rio Tinto on Sunday apologised to West Australians for the “alarm” triggered to the general public and revealed it had began an inside investigation into how the capsule — which comprises “quite a large radiation dose” — was misplaced whereas it was being transported by its contactor SGS Australia.
“As part of this investigation we are working closely with the contractor to better understand what went wrong in this instance,” a Rio Tinto spokesperson stated in a press release on Monday.
The capsule was packaged on 10 January to be despatched to Perth for restore earlier than leaving the positioning for transport by highway two days later.
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The package deal holding the capsule arrived in Perth on January 16 and was unloaded and saved within the licensed service supplier’s safe radiation retailer.
On 25 January, the gauge was unpacked for inspection and it was discovered that the gauge was damaged aside with one of many 4 mounting bolts lacking and the supply itself and all screws on the gauge additionally lacking.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
