Questions over radioactive ‘needle in a haystack’
WA rejoiced after a tiny, potentially deadly, radioactive capsule was found in the outback – but some questions still need answering.
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Western Australia rejoiced on Wednesday after a tiny, potentially deadly, radioactive capsule was found in a “needle in a haystack” outback search effort.
But the debacle has sparked criticism, with those involved conceding “it should never have been lost”.
“It’s been found!” WA Premier Mark McGowan declared on Wednesday afternoon.
An exhaustive search was launched after the potentially deadly piece of mining equipment went missing in an area spanning a length greater than Aussie states and territories.
The small, round, silver capsule, 6mm in diameter and 8mm high, is used within gauges in mining operations and contains a small quantity of radioactive Caesium-137.
The item had “fallen off the back of a truck” between the Pilbara mining town of Newman to the Perth suburb of Malaga sometime between January 11 and January 16, leaving specialist teams with more than 1,400km of road to sweep.
Fortunately for West Australians, on Wednesday, authorities confirmed it had been tracked down not far from the Rio Tinto Gudai-Darri mine, 75km north of Newman, from where it came.
“Finding this minute object – measuring 8mm by 6mm – in the vast outback within seven days is an incredible achievement,” Mr McGowan said on Wednesday.
“To all agencies and crews who quickly mobilised for this enormous search operation – thank you and well done.”
Authorities said it was unlikely anyone came in contact with the hazardous piece of equipment – which is lucky, as the government described it as being able to emit the radiation of “10 X-rays an hour”.
“It does not appear to have moved. It appears to have fallen off the back of the truck and landed on the side of the road. It is remote enough that it’s not in any major community,” assured chief health officer Andy Robertson.
“So it is unlikely that anybody has been exposed to the capsule,” he said.
On Thursday, Prime Minister also praised the efforts of the search crews.
“How good was it that they found it?” he told Triple M Perth Breakfast.
“Shouldn’t have lost it in the first place of course, but quite extraordinary that they found something that was smaller than a ten-cent piece on a 1,400 kilometre search zone.
“I got a heads up when it was found by the agencies and they were very excited, as they should have been, and congrats to everyone involved in the search party.”
‘Ridiculously low’ potential penalty for lost capsule
Despite the potential for the capsule to cause burns, radiation sickness or even cancer, the possible penalty for anyone found responsible for losing it is a meagre $1,000 fine.
Australian Greens spokesperson on Resources, and Yamatji-Noongar woman, Senator Dorinda Cox said this was too low.
“The only thing preventing this happening again are penalties, and a $1000 fine is not going to cut it. That’s loose change for a mining company,” she said.
“Lots of resources have gone into finding this capsule. We need certainty that the mining company responsible foots the bill, not WA taxpayers.”
In response to that news revealed by ABC, Mr Albanese said on Wednesday the penalty was “ridiculously low”.
“It shouldn’t have been lost. That’s the first thing. And second, of course, that figure is ridiculously low,” Mr Albanese said.
“I suspect that it’s ridiculously low because people didn’t think that such an item would be lost.”
WA’s Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson agreed.
“The current fine system is unacceptably low, and we’re looking at how we can increase that,” she said.
“The act which governs the Radiological Council … was actually developed and written in the 1970s.
“So it probably was a lot of money in the 1970s, and this sort of technology wasn’t even imagined.”
Who’s picking up the search bill?
No costing has released on the search, which saw over 100 personnel armed with highly specialised detection equipment tasked with sweeping hundreds of kilometres of outback road and bush.
There have been calls from the public for Rio Tinto to foot the bill.
“I hope Rio Tinto gets a big fine and has paid the government hours to find the thing,” one Western Australian local wrote to Mark McGowan online.
“Let’s hope Rio Tinto meet the costs for DFES and any other agencies that were involved,” another said.
Indeed, the miner, who contracted the expert radioactive materials handler believed to have lost the item, is already on the front foot.
“I would be happy to reimburse the cost of the search. Of course, that ultimately is a matter for the state government,” Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Simon Trott said.
“There will be a full investigation. We’ll fully co-operate with the investigation. If as part of that, there’s a request from government, we would be happy to reimburse the cost of the search.”
“The simple fact is this device should never have been lost. We’re sorry that that has occurred, and we’re sorry for the concern that that has caused within the Western Australian community.
“We need to learn from this so we can put in place additional controls to ensure that this never happens again.”
The search was co-ordinated by Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services and involved specialist search crews from the Australian Defence Force, the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, and other support agencies.
Did the leak do any damage?
An investigation into the incident look into what damage, if any, was done to the area where the capsule was lost.
Darren Klemm, the state’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services Minister, said it was improbable the capsule leaked.
“In the extremely unlikely situation that the capsule leaked, we will remediate the area.” he said.
Once completed, a final report with the investigation’s findings will be handed to the health Minister.
– With NCA Newswire
Originally published as Questions over radioactive ‘needle in a haystack’
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