Tiny, radioactive capsule went missing. See where it was found

Authorities scanning a remote Australian highway for a tiny missing radioactive capsule have found it by the roadside, after a challenging search likened to trying to find a needle in a haystack. #CNN #news

47 comments

    1. Rest assured, there’s an untold story of dying or dead people who were in this thing’s presence when it was being so carelessly transported.

  1. A needle in a haystack is extremely easy to find when it’s broadcasting radio waves in the form of gamma radiation.

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    1. its not that dangerous. they’re handled without radiation protection and people are around these pellets at these mines all day long. The danger comes from it getting lost and then mistaken for a normal chunk of metal that someone tries to recycle or some random disaster like that or over time it could decay and damage the environment, but if its straight from the mine that means it hasn’t been refined yet. They definitely shouldn’t be getting lost at all, its kinda unexcusable, but it’s not some lethal accident or something

    2. Yet, you don’t feel the same way about the 1850 boxes of classified documents they’ve just found that Biden had stolen. Hmmm…

    3. What I do find scary is that for it to fall down as such, means that it was t transported in a sealed container. Most likely, it has been normal for the company involved in to do so, meaning that all along this stretch of road radioactivity is much higher than the norm. For this to happen in Australia, a country that has always been against nuclear be it civil or military, that’s big.

  2. i am far less interested in how it was found than i am in how it happened in the first place and how they are going to prevent it going forward.

  3. Sucks to be the contractor that broke the machine and lost it. Just the payment for the search teams could have bankrupt them if they don’t have good insurance.

  4. That little thing must have had some really destructive potential; for them to go to these efforts; and to cover it so comprehensively on international television.

    1. Yes. Once dropped, it became hazardous radioactive waste. While properly enclosed and under controlled ownership it is referred to as Dangerous Goods. This is highly regulated here in the USA, and I am speaking as a former licensed/certified Industrial Radiographer.

    2. Its 30-year half life puts it right up there for very hot.
      U-238 ticks over much more slowly, with its half life comparable to the age of the Earth 🌎. Our old world has half the U-238 it started with. Helps keep the core molten.

  5. I know exactly how that feels I had to put extra side planks on my hog hauling truck to keep my radioactive capsules from falling out in the road it just takes a little extra effort and a couple of planks and maybe a tarp sometimes I throw a pig or goat or two on top take him to the market on the way and a big rusted-out hole in the bottom of the bed I had to repair that too I think some may have fell out through there

  6. Well done to everyone involved can’t have been very secure on that transporter lessons should be learned 🙏🇬🇧❤️

  7. If the “Average Joe” knew just how much of radioactive material is transported globally everyday, this story would have a rather different meaning. The fact that 1 coin sized capsule went missing, was located and it is a big story we are hearing about, from tons of radioactive material being transported everyday globally (literal tons), puts thing in a perspective.

    1. Looking things up on google… Current global uranium consumption is 190 Million pounds per year, so that is 190 million pounds of uranium that needs to get shipped to fuel fabrication facility and more than 190 million pounds of fuel assemblies shipped to the reactors. A holda civic weighs about 3,000 pounds so we’re talking equivalent of 63,000 honda civics being shipped per year and loosing, then finding an equivalent of 1 key fob in the process.

  8. As a former licensed/certified Industrial Radiographer, as appalling as this whole thing sounds, it does happen even with all the rules and regulations in the USA (NRC). Once they dropped the radioactive source, it became hazardous, radioactive waste. There is always a weakness, and that is that a person will follow the rules. Losing this is not an option. I am glad it was found, and hopefully, no one and nothing got hurt.

    P.S. Typically, on these radioactive sources, the radioactive isotope is encapsulated in a stainless steel covering so that the material doesn’t break and cause contamination. We usually call that “the pill”.

    1. I work in networks. The more I know about how things work….the more amazed I am that there hasn’t been more catastrophic incidents

  9. The capsule was inside a testing gauge, inside a packing create. Very rough roads had the gauge fall apart and the capsule falling through a bolt hole with the packing create also splitting apart. While this is still no excuse, people saying it was simply unprotected on the back of a truck have it a bit wrong.

  10. I was sure last year would end badly for me but I think Amazons LPA33X is spot on with what they do and how they do it. Can’t say for how long it’s going to work and for sure it is overyhped right now but even for half a year or something it would be smart to ride the wave and then jump away eventually but the thing is why this is smart right now is because it’s so cheap, won’t ever find a better entry than now

    1. Amazons AMZ is worth it imo, right now it’s the earliest possible time to get in there and the lowest possible price. Sounds like finally I caught something in time lol, now watch the drop when I go buy it

  11. I work in a radiation control government lab and we have sources a fraction as hot as that and we still keep them double wrapped in a sealed bag and secure container. The idea that this was able to be out on the road like that is insane to me.

  12. Great report on the obvious, thank you for clarifing those key well known points. However, the one thing I keep wanting to know is, how does something that dangerous simply “falls off a truck”, like a coffee cup. Every news agency keeps saying. “Well you know it fell off the truck.” shrug. No follow up!! Was this part of a large loose pile of radioactive slugs on a flat deck? There are so, so many questions that need to asked about this “falling off a truck” response. “The goal is to transport this capsule in a lead container.” What was it in before!? How often are they doing this? What where their protocols? Again, there are so, soooo many questions here.

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