There was palpable relief when authorities found a Tic Tac-sized radioactive capsule after it 'fell off the back of a truck' in Western Australia's outback, but many questions remain unanswered.
about 74km south of Newman on the Great Northern Highway, not far from the Rio Tinto mine site where it started its ill-fated journey.It was recovered following a painstaking search by specialist teams spanning more than 1,000km, which was likened to trying to find a needle in a haystack.
The good news is the capsule does not appear to have been moved after it fell from the truck, indicating that no-one had handled the potentially deadly object, which emits radiation equivalent to 10 X-rays an hour."It does not appear to have moved, it appears to have fallen off the back of the truck and landed on the side of the road, it is remote enough that it's not in any major community," assured Chief Health Officer Andy Robertson.
"In the extremely unlikely situation that the capsule leaked, we will remediate the area," Commissioner Klemm said on Wednesday.
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