A potentially dangerous radioactive capsule has been found in Australia where it had been wanted since mid-January after being lost while being transported by truck from a Rio Tinto group mine, authorities said on Wednesday.
“This is a good thing. Like I said, it was definitely a needle in a haystack that was found and I think the people of Western Australia will be able to sleep better tonight,” Steve Dawson, Minister for Health, told reporters. Australian state emergency services.
The Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto had apologized on Monday for the loss.
Authorities drove hundreds of highway miles in search of the tiny capsule.
She was eventually discovered by the side of a deserted road just south of the town of Newman, near the mine from which she had been transported, state emergency services official Darren Klemm said. .
After six days of research, one of the mobilized vehicles detected radiation while traveling on the highway.
Authorities are now working to recover the capsule safely before taking it to a safe place, Klemm said.
The silver-colored capsule, which measures 8 mm by 6 mm, used during mining operations, according to the authorities, contains a radioactive substance, Cesium-137, capable of causing acute irradiation.
It had been lost during transport by truck between a mine near the remote town of Newman and the northern suburbs of Perth (southwest), a distance of approximately 1,400 kilometers.