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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

#131

Post by WantonQuantum »

logifail wrote: post #102
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 "[in] 1987 in Goiânia, Brazil [..] a forgotten radiotherapy source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city. It was subsequently handled by many people, resulting in four deaths. About 112,000 people were examined for radioactive contamination and 249 of them were found to have been contaminated" "In the consequent cleanup operation, topsoil h…

In the Wikipedia article it’s clear that the container of the caesium 137 was punctured and the grains of caesium powder were handled by many people and spread on surfaces.

That’s just the original source of beta particles being spread around rather than the beta radiation “spreading” in some way.

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

#132

Post by WantonQuantum »

sgt wrote: post #106
wayvey wrote: post #9

If this had been found by the wrong people, what kind of nefarious uses could it have had?

Imagine if some aboriginals found it and tried to make jewellery out of it. Probably not unlikely, seeing that it's a heavy metal object that can be drilled so that you can attach a necklace. The wearer would be in deep trouble.

What? Your view of Australia’s indigenous population seems to come from the 1850’s.

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

#133

Post by BaculumMeumEst »

I-M-S wrote: post #56
lqet wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The apartment was fully settled in 1980. A year later, an 18-year-old woman who lived there suddenly died. In 1982, her 16-year-old brother followed, and then their mother. [All from leukemia]. [...] A new family moved into the apartment, and their son died from leukemia as well. > A child's bed was located directly next to the wall containing the capsule.

Naturally occurring radiation might play a part in human tendency to regard certain places as haunted.

i'm pretty sure superstition about haunted locations doesn't come from people repeatedly getting leukemia

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

#134

Post by kitd »

c-fe wrote: post #112
kitd wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reddit had fun with this story. One guy was posting daily images of a small metal capsule he'd found, wondering what it was. Everyday the image deteriorated a bit, and he described feeling sicker. Comments were along the lines of "your passion for collecting is truly radiant".

do you mind sharing a link to these posts? I would like to read them Edit: found them: https://old.reddit.com/user/JephriB/submitted/

Yup, that's the guy.

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

#137

Post by 8organicbits »

logifail wrote: post #100
8organicbits wrote: post #93

I wonder what lessons learned and mitigations will come out of this. My armchair analysis is that there should be a Geiger counter on any vehicle moving radioactive material. I suspect the device had shielding to protect the driver, so an alarm should have gone off when that shielding broke. From that point on the driver was sitting close to an unshielded radiation source and in danger. I'm not an expect, but I suspe…

> the sudden drop in radioactivity when the capsule left the truck should have triggered an alarm and GPS log Shouldn't a radioactive source should be shielded when not in use, especially when it's being transported? If so there shouldn't be significant radiation coming from the shielded source inside the truck...

I think it depends on how much radiation leaks through the shielding and how sensitive the Geiger counter is. I'd expect that the goal of the shielding would be to reduce radiation to safe levels, which may still be high enough to detect. But honestly, I have no idea if that's the case.

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

#138

Post by SnowHill9902 »

igbk wrote: post #128
perihelions wrote: post #101

Is the idea of blameless postmortem that exotic in the general public? If I hear that a critical safety system failed, my first association isn't "find the individual closest to responsibility, and look into whether a criminal prosecution is feasible". - "We have the ability to prosecute under the radiation safety act and we will certainly look at such prosecutions, and we've done that in the past," [Chief Health Off…

I suspect the extend and target of postmortem blame varies considerably from culture to culture. An anecdote from the railroad traffic between Germany and Denmark: "[In 2019, a DB Cargo freight train in Denmark caused an accident with a passenger train on its way to Copenhagen after a truck trailer flew off the freight train due to high winds. The German side was keen to find out who was responsible at the lowest lev…

Both are important.

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

#139

Post by SnowHill9902 »

seanhandley wrote: post #135

> "The search crews have quite literally found the needle in the haystack." Apart from flagrant abuse of the word "literally", this was an interesting read.

They have literally found the metaphorical needle in the haystack.

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

#140

Post by avereveard »

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.

Blaming customers for companies malfeasance must have been one of the greatest deflection tactics ever invented and it saddens me deeply when it gets parroted verbatim by the general populace.
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