Australia: Officials Hunt for Missing Radioactive Capsule

Facts

• Western Australia's Dept. of Fire and Emergency Services has announced that a radioactive capsule containing cesium-137, a material used in gauges for mining in the resource-rich region of the country, went missing during transport between Newman and Perth.
• The mining company handling the transport, Rio Tinto Iron Ore, apologized on Sunday for 'causing an alarm,' adding that it is 'fully supporting the relevant authorities' and has initiated an investigation.
• Mining company Rio Tinto picked the capsule up in the remote Pilbara region for transport to a storage facility roughly 870 miles (1.4K km) away in the state capital Perth. Western Australia is more than 975K square miles (2.5M sq km) large and is sparsely populated, with 75% of its 2.7M residents living in Perth.
• The company said the capsule, which may have gone missing as long as two weeks ago, is just 0.24 inches (6.1 mm) long by 0.31 inches (7.9 mm) wide and may have gotten lodged in the tire of a vehicle on the road.
• Authorities are worried someone may pick the capsule up and become exposed to radiation — which can burn and sicken those who touch it. Special equipment to allow the detection of the capsule from a moving vehicle is now being used.
• Authorities have not closed National Highway 95, though they have marked their incident map red with radioactive symbols as a warning. Specialists are also focusing on 'strategic sites' along the route, particularly in high-population areas near Perth.

Sources: Washington Post, Independent, Axios, BBC News, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Sky. Because the use of these radioactive capsules is quite common in a wide variety of scientific endeavors, the carelessness of this transportation team is remarkably concerning from an occupational health and safety perspective. The written process for transporting toxic materials is ironclad, and there is no excuse for any person or company to put the public at risk like this.
• Narrative B, as provided by CNBC. Though the buck stops with the company in charge, this was a very unfortunate and unusual mistake made by a third-party contractor. Rio Tinto is working thoroughly alongside government authorities to find the capsule and return the region to a state of safety as soon as possible. Industrial accidents happen on occasion, and all measures are being taken to rectify the situation.