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A mining company on Sunday apologized for the loss of a highly radioactive capsule along a 1,400-kilometre stretch of Western Australia, as authorities combed sections of the road looking for the tiny but dangerous substance.
The capsule is part of a piece of equipment believed to have fallen from a truck as it was being transported between the desert mine site and the city of Perth on January 10.
The truck carrying the capsules arrived at the Perth depot on January 16. Emergency services were notified of the missing capsule on January 25.
Emergency services in Western Australia have called on other Australian states and the federal government for support in finding the capsule due to a lack of equipment. The capsules measure eight millimeters by six millimetres, and people have been warned that they can unknowingly slip into car tyres.
The ceramic source of cesium-137, commonly used in radiation gauges, emits a dangerous amount of radiation, equivalent to receiving 10 X-rays in an hour, Western Australia’s Chief Health Officer Dr Andrew Robertson said. It can cause skin burns, and prolonged exposure can cause cancer.
“So if you have contact or are close to you, you may experience skin damage, including skin burns for some time. And if you have it long enough near you, it can cause acute radiation sickness; now it will take some time,” said Robertson on Friday.
The chief executive of mining giant Rio Tinto Iron Ore, Simon Trott, said the company was taking the incident very seriously and apologized for causing public concern.
All transport routes can be searched
“We know this is very clear and we are very sorry for the alarm this has caused in the West Australian community,” Trott said. “In addition to supporting the relevant authorities, we have launched our own investigation to understand how the capsule was lost in transit.”
The search has involved people scanning radiation levels from devices along roads used by trucks, with authorities indicating all transport routes should be searched.
The Western Australian Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) announced the capsule was missing on Friday, two days after it was reported by Rio Tinto.
Vibration can have the capsule dislodged
Authorities said vibrations along the transport route caused a bolt from the container in which the capsule was being transported to become dislodged, with the capsule then falling into a hole and killing the flat-bed truck.
“The capsule appears to have been lost during transport between the mine site north of Newman and north-east or north-east of Perth,” DFES Country North chief inspector David Gill said.
Trott said the contractor was qualified to transport the device and had confirmed it was in the truck by a Geiger counter before it left the mine.
Police have ruled the incident an accident, and no criminal charges have been filed.
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