Radioactive cesium-137 capsule lost in the Australian Outback

[airportwoman]

It's used in mining operations, and could be anywhere along a 700-mile stretch in Australia. What's so unusual about it is that they are expecting people to go looking for something shiny that's about the size of a pencil eraser, and if anyone sees it, stay at least 16 feet away.

Has anyone here read the book "Mutant Message Down Under", which was a best-seller in the 1990s? I did, just within the past couple of years, and while I recognized it as fiction almost immediately, if the wrong organism gets exposed to it, it might not be in the future.

https://www.npr.org/2023/01/31/1152870649/australia-missing-radioactive-capsule?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&fbclid=IwAR35QCJSMBkcPVpAau7gGlMWZvrr0yB3n-98ZvWhlD-Omg-mlKzQkUbu7vI

 

[cuffem]

I read that it could get stuck in someones tire tread.

 

[cuffem]

FOUND!

Radioactive capsule found in Australia could have been deadly with prolonged exposure, expert says

The health effects of coming into contact with a radioactive capsule no bigger than a coin that was lost in Western Australia -- and has since been found -- could potentially be severe, according to experts. Caesium-137 is a human-made fission project often used in radiological laboratories as...

www.yahoo.com

 

[UrsulaWrenn]

Thank goodness it's been found.

But, are we sure it needs to exist, at all? We humans don't have a good track record with keeping things safe & secure -and the more dire the need, the more likely it is one of us will make a mistake.

The capsule contained materials that are "a million times more active" than those used in a lab, Di Fulvio said, describing it as a "very active" source. At 1.665 millisieverts per hour, the unit of measurement used for radiation, coming into 1 meter of the source is comparable to about 17 chest X-rays, Di Fulvio said.

 

[airportwoman]

At least it didn't have military value. THAT would definitely concern me.