This is not the title of the article, and it should be changed. Besides, what's kph?
km/h
How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
51–60 of 83 posts
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#52This is not the title of the article, and it should be changed. Besides, what's kph?
The given title here is much more informative than the article title of "WA outback proves no match for Aussie nuclear know-how".
> Besides, what's kph?
Kilometres per hour.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#53Good job, but a lot of the reports really exaggerate the size of the search area. > in the formidable conditions of the outback... > It’s fair to say finding a piece of equipment the size of a button in a vast desert was no easy task Let's not go too far here. It was two metres from the road and they knew exactly which 1400km of roads to check.
Also: “... we’re a sophisticated nuclear nation and in many ways, we’re world leaders that punch above our weight when it comes to nuclear expertise and stewardship." The stewardship claim bit seems maybe a bit overstated considering they weren't able to secure an object the size of a button leading to it "falling off the back of a truck" My minds eye is seeing a crocodile Dundee type holding a beer in one hand and c…
> The stewardship claim bit seems maybe a bit overstated considering they weren't able to secure an object the size of a button leading to it "falling off the back of a truck"
As I understand it, this wasn't fuel, it was part of an instrument used by a mining company to measure the density of iron ore. The mining company (or a contractor depending on what you read) are the ones that lost it, the Australian government agency just came in to help find it.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#54This is not the title of the article, and it should be changed. Besides, what's kph?
American moment
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#55Good job, but a lot of the reports really exaggerate the size of the search area. > in the formidable conditions of the outback... > It’s fair to say finding a piece of equipment the size of a button in a vast desert was no easy task Let's not go too far here. It was two metres from the road and they knew exactly which 1400km of roads to check.
I was rather baffled by so many sources claiming that this would be super difficult to find. It seemed like such a simple task to drive up and down roads with some radiation detection equipment, log the data and investigate any hotspots. Well, I guess it was? Or maybe I'm severely underestimating the complexity of this?
they were initially concerned it would lodge in a knobby truck tire's treads and be carried off the known path, or so i read.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#56Cool use of gamma-ray imaging technology! The underlying technology is a coded aperture to give a random response on the detector that can be used to reconstruct the direction of the gamma-ray source. I think they are using a moving mask with a single detector in the middle. They probably didn't know if the source had broken apart and caused more contamination when they found the general area. So the imaging allows you to know from a distance if the source has been distributed without going into a potentially loose contamination area.
Shameless plug: our company makes gamma-ray imaging systems and combines them with LiDAR mapping to make real-time 3D radiation maps: https://www.gammareality.com/ Basically we can make "nuclear street view" in real-time while driving around, or walking it around on Spot.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#57Good job, but a lot of the reports really exaggerate the size of the search area. > in the formidable conditions of the outback... > It’s fair to say finding a piece of equipment the size of a button in a vast desert was no easy task Let's not go too far here. It was two metres from the road and they knew exactly which 1400km of roads to check.
That still a massive search area for a very tiny object. It's the distance between Austin TX and Los Angeles, CA. And they didn't know it was within 2m of the road- it might have bounced much further, or been hit by another vehicle and sent further. It might have been picked up by another vehicle, stuck in the tire perhaps. Previous incidents like this have lead to deaths. Let them celebrate.
>It might have been picked up by another vehicle, stuck in the tire perhaps.
Or used by Emus[1] to develop nuclear weapons.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Also: “... we’re a sophisticated nuclear nation and in many ways, we’re world leaders that punch above our weight when it comes to nuclear expertise and stewardship." The stewardship claim bit seems maybe a bit overstated considering they weren't able to secure an object the size of a button leading to it "falling off the back of a truck" My minds eye is seeing a crocodile Dundee type holding a beer in one hand and c…
> The stewardship claim bit seems maybe a bit overstated considering they weren't able to secure an object the size of a button leading to it "falling off the back of a truck" As I understand it, this wasn't fuel, it was part of an instrument used by a mining company to measure the density of iron ore. The mining company (or a contractor depending on what you read) are the ones that lost it, the Australian government…
And, it was secured inside an instrument inside a box strapped to a truck. The instrument had an unplanned disassembly in transit, and the cesium capsule fell through a hole in the bottom of the box, presumably used to bolt it down to its previous location. Failure to secure that hole (and any others in the box) was, in my opinion, the true failure of the mining company in this case.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#59Do gamma rays bounce back on a rock or do you need line of sight to capture the source? If it is the latter they were very lucky, effectively one small stone away from never being able to find it.
If something is easy to block, then it's probably not very dangerous.
So probably not the case.
Re: How to find a tiny radioactive source while doing 70 kph
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
The news was a bit of a beat-up and the chances of just accidentally stumbling on it out there were pretty remote to essentially nil. But what's authority to do? If some kid had found it and took it to school there'd be hell to play. Based of its stated radiation signature it was always going to be easy to find. Right, it was a simple but nuisance task and took about as long as expected.
It was probably a mistake to report it to the public while it was still missing. That probably attracted a bunch of amateurs who could have ended up finding it. Far safer to look for it quietly first.
I was considering going on a vacation/scavenger hunt when I saw the first article about it