A Tiny, Deadly, Radioactive Capsule Has Gone ‘Walkabout’ in Western Australia

SANDY HOSIER: The search is on for a deadly radioactive capsule the size of a 5 cent coin, across the world’s second largest state of Western Australia. The missing 8 x 6mm capsule, containing the highly radioactive and deadly substance Caesium-137, fell off a Rio Tinto mining truck somewhere on a 1400km section of the Great Northern Highway, spanning a distance that is longer than the length of California. Luckly, most of the Australian population, as referenced in the constitution at least, live in the handful of locations on this chart. So we should be right to go.

Radiation Services WA, a company that provides radiation protection advice, says standing within 1m (3.3 feet) of the capsule for an hour would deliver around 1.6 millisieverts (mSv), as much as around 17 standard chest X-rays.

Rio Tinto faces a maximum fine of 1000 dollars under WA law, and well deserved, I would say.