A radioactive capsule is missing in Australia. It’s tiny and potentially deadly
ASTANA. KAZINFORM It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack – an 8mm by 6mm silver capsule, no bigger than a coin, believed to be lost somewhere along a stretch of vast desert highway in Australia’s biggest state, Kazinform reports citing CNN .
Mining company Rio Tinto issued an apology on Monday saying it was supporting state government efforts to find the capsule, which contains Caesium-137, a highly radioactive substance used in mining equipment.
Rio Tinto said it has checked all roads in and out of the Gudai-Darri mine site in remote northern Western Australia, where the device was located before a contractor collected it for the journey south to the state capital, Perth.
Authorities believe the capsule, which emits both gamma and beta rays, fell off the back of a truck trundling along a 1,400 kilometer (870 miles) section of the Great Northern Highway – a distance longer than the Californian coastline.
Due to the tiny size of the capsule and the huge distances involved, authorities warn the chances of finding it are slim.
And there are fears that it may have already been carried further from the search zone, creating a radioactive health risk for anyone who comes across it for potentially the next 300 years.
Photo: edition.cnn.com