‘Radioactive capsule wasn’t found by luck’
The man who oversaw the successful ‘needle in a haystack’ search for a radioactive capsule lost in the WA outback says he always believed the tiny object would be found.
The man who oversaw the successful “needle in a haystack” search for a radioactive capsule that disappeared while being transported across the West Australian outback says he always believed the tiny object would be found.
On Thursday, a day after a team of experts recovered the 8mm by 6mm capsule some 74km south of Newman in the Pilbara, Fire and Emergency Services Department incident controller Darryl Ray said the technology available meant a successful recovery was always likely.
“It wasn’t found by luck. It was found by a lot of specialists, a very dedicated team from many different agencies and organisations both state and commonwealth, and believe it or not I was pretty confident since day one that we’d actually find it,” Mr Ray said.
“As long as it was on the route, we were definitely going to find it; the equipment that the specialists have used is incredible and the chances of finding it, even though it was very small, were quite high from the beginning.”
The capsule, part of a damaged gauge at Rio Tinto’s Gudai-Darri iron ore mine, was being taken to Perth for repair. Its disappearance was detected only after the truck carrying the gauge had completed its 1400km journey along the Great Northern Highway.
Authorities last week issued a warning about the missing capsule, which they feared could lead to dangerous amounts of radiation exposure if it was close to an individual for a prolonged period.
It took six days to find the capsule, which was due to arrive in Perth on Thursday evening. It is in a radiation-proof lead box and being escorted to Perth by 14 personnel from DFES, the Australian Defence Force and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.
The company and contractors involved in the capsule’s transport will face an investigation into whether any laws were breached.
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