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Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

nytimes.com

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Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#31

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Waterluvian wrote: post #25
aqme28 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“A few people here may die” is a relatively serious nuclear accident. Worse than three-mile island at least.

I don’t disagree. But I wonder if the cost to recovering this pellet would save more lives spent in another way.

A few grand to dig it out of a wall? A few hundo to slap some lead shielding over it (it is an X-ray source after all)?

In any case the primary expense is going to be one of paying off all the people to get the right approvals. Crunching the numbers on how to safely rectify it and actually going through those actions will be dirt cheap compared to getting someone with the "right credentials" to tell the government, the insurers and whoever else that your obvious solution any highschooler can crunch the numbers on is in fact acceptable

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#33

Post by Ankaios »

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #5

Curious. I would expect something that seems so threatening, has such a tiny effect on the environment that it can't even be detected. Something not adding up.

If you dropped a Cs-137 source of this scale way out in the middle of nowhere, far away from any road or crops, it might not be a big deal. The half life is only 30 years, and it could get buried under soil or in silt. However, losing it near civilization isn't good. (Even sparsely settled areas.) It's a shiny metal object, and if it's in a gas station, hotel, or restaurant parking lot, some kid could easily find it. Plus, gamma sources are relatively easy to detect, which should help the search.

If the military lost a hand grenade on a similar road trip, I'm sure people would want to find it, and this source is at least as dangerous.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#34

Post by Waterluvian »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #31
Waterluvian wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree. But I wonder if the cost to recovering this pellet would save more lives spent in another way.

A few grand to dig it out of a wall? A few hundo to slap some lead shielding over it (it is an X-ray source after all)? In any case the primary expense is going to be one of paying off all the people to get the right approvals. Crunching the numbers on how to safely rectify it and actually going through those actions will be dirt cheap compared to getting someone with the "right credentials" to tell the government, t…

I think finding it is the expensive part.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#36

Post by [deleted] »

thomasmg wrote: post #29
cloudking wrote: post #17

Interview question: can you design a system to safely locate and retrieve the capsule?

I don't know if something like that would help, but in Switzerland there are annual measurement flights (with a helicopter): https://blog.alertswiss.ch/en/categories/focp-news/annual-ne... Part of this seems to be (sometimes?) to find radioactive sources: "The goal of this part of the exercise was to find two radioactive sources which, for training purposes, had been placed somewhere in an area of about 2,500 km2"

[deleted]

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#37

Post by number6 »

campuscodi wrote: post #21

A dingo will eat it, transform into Fenrir, and that's how Ragnarok starts

And soon the world will cease to be.

The northern wind brings snow and ice Humans starve and freeze The Fimbul winter has arrived And soon the world will cease to be Brother will be brother′s bane No one shall be spared All will die, none remain That is mankind's share

The southern sphere is set ablaze Muspel′s fire is set free The sun is on its final chase And soon the world will cease to be

Across the western sky he runs A wolf so grim and mean Devours the eternal sun And soon the world will cease to be

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#38

Post by sebastien_b »

Waterluvian wrote: post #25
aqme28 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“A few people here may die” is a relatively serious nuclear accident. Worse than three-mile island at least.

I don’t disagree. But I wonder if the cost to recovering this pellet would save more lives spent in another way.

Did you work at Ford as an executive during the Pinto era?

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#39

Post by dsfyu404ed »

Waterluvian wrote: post #34
dsfyu404ed wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A few grand to dig it out of a wall? A few hundo to slap some lead shielding over it (it is an X-ray source after all)? In any case the primary expense is going to be one of paying off all the people to get the right approvals. Crunching the numbers on how to safely rectify it and actually going through those actions will be dirt cheap compared to getting someone with the "right credentials" to tell the government, t…

I think finding it is the expensive part.

It pretty much broadcasts its location if you wave the right instrumentation around.

Re: Australians scour desert for dangerous radioactive capsule smaller than a penny

#40

Post by Waterluvian »

sebastien_b wrote: post #38
Waterluvian wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t disagree. But I wonder if the cost to recovering this pellet would save more lives spent in another way.

Did you work at Ford as an executive during the Pinto era?

I insist they are safe at any speed so long as you keep their gas tanks empty!
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