Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
1–10 of 244 posts
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#2Honestly, that's a relief and the best outcome.
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#3Anybody has a clue how / what for this is used in mining? And are there alternatives for the future?
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#4Anybody has a clue how / what for this is used in mining? And are there alternatives for the future?
Estimating iron ore grade on the fly as recently blasted ore beds are dumped through a load out into train carriages for transport to ocean side processing (further crushing, screening, fine grading and blending) and loading onto shipping.
It's an 800 million tonne per year operation in W.Australia (somewhat larger than the US ~ 48 million tonne iron ore mining figures (IIRC)).
The alternatives are to find something else that can be "shone" like a flashlight through raw iron ore, and | or for the world to consume less steel.
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#5Anybody has a clue how / what for this is used in mining? And are there alternatives for the future?
I’m not sure about mining, but in dredging it’s used to measure the density of the slurry in a pipe. It’s possibly something similar in mining.
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#6> It was believed the capsule fell through the gap left by a bolt hole, after the bolt was dislodged when a container collapsed as a result of vibrations during the trip.
You would imagine someone have thought of this failure mode
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#7Anybody has a clue how / what for this is used in mining? And are there alternatives for the future?
Density meter source, and no there's generally no necessary alternative as these are "usually" quite safe when they are handled correctly.
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#8How did they find it?
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#9If this had been found by the wrong people, what kind of nefarious uses could it have had?
Re: Missing radioactive capsule found in WA outback after frantic search
#10How did they find it?
I'm guessing that even though tho capsule is tiny, its radiation signature could be detected from quite a distance using a Geiger counter.