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Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

abc.net.au

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Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#231

Post by dang »

avereveard wrote: post #161
defrost wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

you trying to hold me personally responsible for other people accountability is at a foundamental level a repeat of the same deflection tactic as expressed above, and warrants a repeat of the same general concept: I do not bear any responsability in the atrocities that far away government allow to be inflicted on their own populace, and I do not profit from them, and the accountability rest on the government of the o…

Please don't respond to a bad comment by breaking the site guidelines yourself. That only makes everything worse.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#232

Post by egorfine »

akiselev wrote: post #210
egorfine wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irradiate someone by putting the capsule in the immediate vicinity in their living space. That's about the evilest use I can imagine for this radiation source.

I am sad to inform you that you have no future as a supervillain. With a radiation source like this even a dust sized particle, if ingested or inhaled, is enough to cause excruciating death. Anything that turns the capsule into a powder and releases it into the air near a large group of people or into a water source or even a public pool could cause mass fatalities.

Mass fatalities, no. Source: I have worked in Chernobyl.

But anyway that's a way better suggestion because you can split one source into a vast multitude of opportunities to slit into someone's pillow. So excruciating death it is.

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#233

Post by ravi-delia »

ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #121
dtech wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is still good to place (organizational) blame and fines on such a thing, otherwise it's financially the most attractive option to take inappropriate risks.

A lot of corporations actually budget for fines. People can really suck. It may be a corporation, doing the crime, but an individual made the decision to do it. I remember a DJ, in Washington DC, talking about parking fines. Parking in DC is expensive , with monthly passes, costing hundreds of dollars a month. His reasoning was that he parked illegally in lots around the studio, and occasionally got tickets, that he…

I mean, obviously that just means the fine isn't high enough. If it's within fine budget range rather than fine insurance, that's your problem right there.

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#234

Post by m3047 »

mschuster91 wrote: post #168
puffoflogic wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> spreading radiation everywhere they go. Radiation is not "spread" in the manner you are suggesting. The only affect on passers-by would be transient exposure - less than ideal, but not a fatal risk. If the capsule were breached and radioactive material were spread, then that would be a disaster posing actual risk to the public at large.

> Radiation is not "spread" in the manner you are suggesting. The only affect on passers-by would be transient exposure - less than ideal, but not a fatal risk. The problem is secondary irradiation. Everything contaminated by exposure - even a car - has to be taken, destroyed and the waste dealt with as radioactive waste.

Uranium has been used for brightly colored ceramic glazes.

Americium is used in smoke detectors, and I assume doping with small amounts of radioactive materials occurs in other applications where encouraging cold sparking or arcing is desired.

Thorium is used in some (arc) welding rods:

https://ehss.energy.gov/SESA/Files/corporatesafety/safety_bu...

https://www.epa.gov/radiation/radionuclide-basics-thorium

Have a great day!

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#235

Post by Animatronio »

Someone1234 wrote: post #228
O__________O wrote: post #216

>> Its loss sparked an unprecedented public safety warning over 1,400km […] a search vehicle was driving past at 70 kilometres per hour on the Great Northern Highway when a detection device revealed radiation. […] 20 metre "hot zone" has been set up around the capsule to ensure the public's safety. Why did it take 5-days to find it? Even just two vehicles driving from either start or end of the path should have cover…

If we had vehicles at either end of the path already configured for positional radiation detection, sure. To determine what needs to happen could have taken a day or more, then a couple of days or more to get the equipment/expertise/calibration done. You're acting like a very specialized operation is some day-to-day occurrence that they should have rolling stock and experts ready to go at a moments notice. That has n…

A Bugatti Chiron Super Sport has a top speed of 490 km/h. Have one start at each end of the road and meet at the middle. One and half hours, tops (actually a little more to allow for refuelling). Boom, problem solved.

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#236

Post by xboxnolifes »

rhn_mk1 wrote: post #107
yreg wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only mildly strange thing about it is that such a check should take like 10 seconds and this article was apparently written after the capsule was found, but before the result of the check was announced. But the serial number check itself is an obvious thing to do and it doesn't necessarily imply they believe there are more of the capsules missing.

It's going to take a bit longer than 10 secobds to safely get close enough to such a strong radiation source as to take a clear picture or read a number.

It's not that strong of a source. You wouldn't want to go about your day with it in your pocket, but last I read a 1m exposure for an hour was a few x-rays worth of radiation. Take out your phone and zoom in.

And since they knew they were looking for radioactive material, I would hazard a guess that they already have necessary protection.

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#237

Post by defrost »

mschuster91 wrote: post #186
defrost wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Everything contaminated by exposure ... Wow. Like, you mean the entire 800 million tonnes of iron ore per annum delibrately exposed to radiation guages such as this all needs to be treated as radioactive waste? Even after it's been turned to steel and worked into bridges, building, cars, etc? I hadn't realised things were that serious :/ Still, I guess reality is in the middle ground and there are degrees to contam…

> Even after it's been turned to steel and worked into bridges, building, cars, etc? For that reason metal recyclers run routine radiation scans on all incoming materials before contaminated material enters the supply chain [1][2]. And there have been a number of such incidents[3][4]. [1] https://www.epa.gov/radtown/radioactive-material-scrap-metal [2] https://www.hse.gov.uk/waste/radioactive-contamination.htm [3] ht…

> For that reason metal recyclers run routine radiation scans

Just to be clear here .. are you actually claiming that raw iron ore tumbling through a loadout and being density scanned:

* actually contaminates the ore and converts it into the equivilant of radioactive waste?

* that metal recyclers are finding signs of > 800 million tonnes per annum of radiated metals?

* that no one has noticed this and seen fit to write an evironmental study paper about it?

Is there any chance here you conflating actual radioactive metals turning up in recycled metals with what is a long standing global practice that doesn't created dangerous radiatctive iron?

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#238

Post by flangola7 »

defrost wrote: post #85
flangola7 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also having a labor mass murder in their name

Slave labor under the Romans at Rio Tinto from 206 BCE onwards for two hundred years, or the 1888 Zalamea massacre, or the still linguring toxic legacy of the Panguna mine in PNG? It's such a persistent ongoing problem with mining that I'm personally more inclined to blame the collective detached nature of consumers that demand products and yet turn a blind eye to the sourcing of that which they demand.

The guns in 1888 didn't pull those triggers by themselves.

Shifting blame to regular people only serves to further insulate corporations from the harms and costs they have externalized, and we should be vigilant to make sure we are not enabling them.

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#239

Post by stevenhuang »

defrost wrote: post #94
dabiged wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are missing the context around nuclear anything in Australia. We have no nuclear powerplants. We have no nuclear submarines. Large portions of the country are staunchly against mining uranium. Most people don't know We operate a single nuclear reactor that only produces medical isotopes. There is no nuance on anything nuclear here because it is almost completely absent from the country.

Australia has large Uranium reserves. It was an Australian nuclear scientist (who later became the South Australian Governor) who convinced the USofA that building an atomic weapon was in fact possible. Australia has a reasonable number of people in the International weapons inspection (conventional and atomic) game. Australia performs a significant amount of radiometric surveying. There is no nuance on anything nucl…

Not to mention the intense lobbying done by the Australian coal companies. The Dutch curse strikes again.

Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search

#240

Post by defrost »

stevenhuang wrote: post #239
defrost wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Australia has large Uranium reserves. It was an Australian nuclear scientist (who later became the South Australian Governor) who convinced the USofA that building an atomic weapon was in fact possible. Australia has a reasonable number of people in the International weapons inspection (conventional and atomic) game. Australia performs a significant amount of radiometric surveying. There is no nuance on anything nucl…

Not to mention the intense lobbying done by the Australian coal companies. The Dutch curse strikes again.

I'm guessing you mean the broader global usage applied to Australia as a whole:

    Dutch economic experience where the manufacturing sector declined and suffered general inflation as a result of the booming natural gas sector.
ie: An exurberance of raw natural resources killing other sectors of the economy.

In the context of Western Australia, though, one might argue that the "Dutch curse" is consistently smashing your ships up against the shores of one of the more hostile coasts globally.

All in the name of The Spice Must Flow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shipwrecks_of_Western_Australi...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_East_India_Company

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