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By Melanie Burton and Lewis Jackson
MELBOURNE, Jan 31 (Reuters) - Australian authorities on
Tuesday sent out more personnel and specialised detection
equipment to search for a tiny radioactive capsule missing
somewhere in the outback, including a team from the country's
nuclear safety agency.
The capsule is believed to have fallen from a road train - a
truck with multiple trailers - that made a 1,400 km (870 mile)
journey in Western Australia and its loss has triggered a
radiation alert for large parts of the vast state.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services said on Monday
that it would take five days to retrace the road train's route.
On Tuesday, it said that 660 km had been searched so far.
The hunt involves a slew of government agencies including
the Department of Defence, the police and now the Australian
Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency and the
Australian Nuclear and Science Technology Organisation.
The capsule was part of a gauge used to measure the density
of iron ore feed that had been entrusted by Rio Tinto Ltd to specialist contractor SGS Australia for packaging
and unpackaging. Transport was then subcontracted out to
logistics firm Centurion.
Authorities suspect vibrations from the road train caused
the screws and a bolt from the gauge to come loose, and then the
capsule fell out. The gauge was picked up from the mine site on
Jan. 12 and was unpacked for inspection on Jan. 25 when the loss
of the capsule became evident.
Centurion said in a statement that the capsule was dislodged
from equipment contained in a crate. The transport crate and
pallet were supplied by SGS, a Centurion spokesperson told
Reuters by phone.
SGS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for
comment. Rio has apologised for the loss.
The road train travelled from Rio's Gudai-Darri mine in the
state's remote Kimberley region to a storage facility in the
suburbs of Perth - a distance longer than the length of Great
Britain.
Search crews are travelling north and south along the
state's Great Northern Highway as well as other sections of the
road train's journey with specialised radiation detection
equipment.
"Today's delivery will further boost our search efforts
and complement the equipment we have been using since the search
started last Thursday," Darryl Ray, incident controller for the
fire and emergency services department, said in a statement.
"The equipment can detect radiation emitted by the missing
capsule and is currently being used around the Perth
metropolitan area and outskirts."
The silver capsule, 6 mm in diameter and 8 mm long,
contains Caesium-137 which emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays
per hour.
People have been told to stay at least five metres (16.5
feet) away if they spot it as exposure could cause radiation
burns or radiation sickness, though driving past the capsule is
believed to be relatively low risk, akin to taking an X-ray.
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Radioactive capsule missing in Australia EXPLAINER-How did a radioactive capsule go missing and how
dangerous is it? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
(Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne and Lewis Jackson in
Sydney; Editing by Edwina Gibbs)
Messaging: alasdair.pal.reuters.com@reuters.net))
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