Brisbane, Australia CNN —
The discovery of a tiny lost radioactive capsule next to a remote Western Australia motorway raises many questions – not the least of which is how it escaped from layers of radiation-proof packaging loaded onto a moving truck.
It’s one of the many puzzling aspects of a case investigators will investigate in the coming weeks as they attempt to unravel the timeline of the capsule’s movements from January 12, when it was packaged for transport, to February 1, when a rescue team found them assembling at the side of the road.
Measuring just 8 x 6 millimeters, the capsule was used in a density meter attached to a pipe at Rio Tinto’s Gudai Darri iron ore mine to measure the flow of material through the feeder.
Rio Tinto said in a statement Monday the capsule was packaged for shipment to Perth, 1,400 kilometers away, with its presence in the package confirmed by a Geiger counter before it was transported by a third-party company.
Normally, the road trip would take more than 12 hours, but about two hours later, the capsule exited the vehicle as it headed south and somehow crossed a lane to head two meters (6.5 feet) from the north side land the dual carriageway.
Lauren Steen, chief executive of Radiation Services WA, a consultancy that writes radiation management plans, said industry insiders were just as stunned as the public when they heard the capsule was missing.
“The whole team scratched our heads. We couldn’t find out what happened,” said Steen, whose company was not involved in his disappearance.
“If the source was packaged in certified packaging and transported in accordance with all requirements of the code of conduct, then that is an extremely unlikely event – one in a million,” she said.
The truck believed to be transporting the capsule arrived in Perth on January 16, four days after it left the Gudai Darri iron ore mine. But it wasn’t until January 25, when workers from SGS Australia unpacked the gauge for inspection, that it was found missing.
In a statement, SGS Australia said it was hired by Rio Tinto to pack the capsule, but this was unrelated to the transport, which was carried out by a “specialist transporter”.
“We provided the contracted service of packing the equipment at the mine site and unpacking it after transportation with qualified personnel for our customer in accordance with all standards and regulations,” it said.
“The transport of the package organized by our customer and delegated to a specialized carrier was not within the scope of SGS. Our staff noticed the loss of the source in our Perth lab upon opening the package and immediately reported the incident.”
The name of the company tasked with transporting the package has not been released.
The missing capsule sparked a six-day search along a section of the Great Northern Highway. Then, on Wednesday morning, a specially equipped car traveling south of the small town of Newman detected a higher level of radiation. Hand tools were then used to refine the capsule embedded in the dirt.
In Australia, each state has its own radioactive material laws and codes of practice, which follow the guidelines of the Australian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), a government agency that works closely with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the World Health Organization (WHO ).
In Western Australia, the rules are governed by the Radiation Safety Act 1975, which Steen says is long overdue for review. “It hasn’t been rewritten since the ’70s, so I think that speaks for itself,” she said.
Steen said that advances in technology over the decades have made using radiation sources in mining equipment much safer – and because it is safer, equipment is being used more often. According to the state’s Chamber of Minerals and Energy, over 150 projects were operational in 2021 in Western Australia, the center of the country’s mining exports.
Under the Radiation Protection Act 1975, only specially trained and licensed operators are allowed to pack radioactive substances, but different rules apply to contractors hired to transport them, Steen said.
“Any transport company can transport radioactive material as long as they have permission to do so,” she said.
According to the law, this license can be obtained by attending a one-day course and passing an exam certified and approved by the regulator.
The licensee must be in charge of a transportation plan submitted to the regulator, but need not personally supervise the trip. There are no regulations on the type of vehicles used for transportation.
Steen says something clearly went wrong – and she hopes the findings of the investigation will be shared with the radiation community so she can avoid such problems in the future.
Discussion has already begun over the need for tougher penalties – in WA, mishandling radioactive substances carries a fine of just AUD 1,000 ($714) – a figure Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Wednesday “ridiculously low”.
Radiation source packaging rules depend on how much radiation they emit. In some cases the device could be enclosed in three layers. In the case of the capsule, the meter could be viewed as a protective layer before being placed in an “overpack”, a container that has likely been sealed.
In a statement, DFES said that upon opening the package, it was found that the gauge was broken and one of the four mounting screws was missing. Regarding the capsule, the statement added: “The source itself and all screws on the gauge were also missing.”
One theory investigators can explore is whether the gauge broke and the capsule fell out of the outer packaging through a hole used to secure the lid.
It is expected to be several weeks before the Radiology Council submits its report to the WA Minister of Health. Meanwhile, Rio Tinto is conducting its own investigation.
CEO Simon Trott said the company is willing to reimburse the government for costs associated with the search – if requested.
WA Emergency Services Minister Stephen Dawson said the offer was welcome but the government would await the outcome of the inquiry to assign blame.
He said he didn’t know how much the search cost but at least 100 people were involved, including police, firefighters, health departments and Defense Forces personnel.
Staff from the National Emergency Management Agency, the Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Organization and the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency also attended.
On Thursday, relieved DFES officials released new images of the capsule being taken to Perth, where it is being held safely at a facility.
This time it traveled in a convoy of closed white vehicles – with large stickers warning of the presence of a radioactive substance.