Missing Radioactive Capsule..

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Because the capsule has been lost for several weeks, chances are that the tyres of passing traffic will have moved it off the roadway by now.
What's the chance of a tyre with deep tread running over it and picking it up... the capsule is only 6mm x 8mm (not even 1cm in size)? No different to a stone getting stuck....It could end up anywhere!
 
I think an enquiry would be appropriate, but no pollies or lawyers. We want intelligent people to examine ways of avoiding incidents like this or worse.
We may be headed for a nuclear future if 24hr electricy cannot be guaranteed otherwise, so probably a good time to consider this.
 
I think an enquiry would be appropriate, but no pollies or lawyers. We want intelligent people to examine ways of avoiding incidents like this or worse.
We may be headed for a nuclear future if 24hr electricy cannot be guaranteed otherwise, so probably a good time to consider this.
An enquiry without a lawyer would be a first! However we have appropriate laws and regulations - what is needed is prosections when they are not followed. And much larger penalties.
 
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They’ve found it. And yes, there’s talk of updating the laws (and the fines) regarding the transportation of this type of material. A $1000 fines isn’t much for someone like Rio.
 
And of course half the Cs131 will have decayed in about 33 years already, so it will probably lie beside a road and simply decay to nothing over the next century.
nah thats not right. I thought the isotope was Cs137, not 131. If it was 131 which has a half life of 9 days then its probably already depleted and not even an issue worth finding. 137 on the other hand has a half life of 30 years.

Regardless, that photo of the gauge looks like its isotope is accessible by winding that crank handle, I dont know that equipment so I'm probably wrong. In any case, I'm lost for words as to why its not padlocked to prevent unqualified people from accessing the isotope at all. Had this been the case the isotope would have never been lost in the first place. In my game, the weakest isotope we use is Cs-137, we are certainly not allowed to f**k with isotopes, ours are padlocked and we dont even own the keys, they belong to government approved vendors.

Give me one guess where that gauge was made!
 
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The sad part, is that rather than the business being held to account, they’ll probably dig out a bunch of forgotten procedures and JHA’s that the crew loading and transporting it “should have known”. They’ll take the heat, even though they’ve probably been doing this for years, and it’d become accepted practice.
 
nah thats not right. I thought the isotope was Cs137, not 131. If it was 131 which has a half life of 9 days then its probably already depleted and not even an issue worth finding. 137 on the other hand has a half life of 30 years.

Regardless, that photo of the gauge looks like its isotope is accessible by winding that crank handle, I dont know that equipment so I'm probably wrong. In any case, I'm lost for words as to why its not padlocked to prevent unqualified people from accessing the isotope at all. Had this been the case the isotope would have never been lost in the first place. In my game, the weakest isotope we use is Cs-137, we are certainly not allowed to f**k with isotopes, ours are padlocked and we dont even own the keys, they belong to government approved vendors.

Give me one guess where that gauge was made!
Correct - wrong isotope but approx. correct half-life (from memory at the time), My point being that so long as no one discovered it, it would become pretty harmless in a century (unlike some other isotopes that are of real concern because of long half-lives).
 
What amazes me the most, is that it was lost so early in the journey. After 1,000+ kilometres in the back of a big truck bouncing around on WA's never-wonderful roads, it wouldn't be too surprising, but just out of Newman...? 😟
 

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