Australia has the beginning of a Kramatorsk incident

Starting to search for it

Authorities believe it fell through a hole where a bolt had been dislodged after a container collapsed inside the truck.

Radiation Services WA general manager Lauren Steen said it was a “highly unlikely” scenario, due to the safety measures typically in place for the transit of radioactive materials.

“Typically they’re transported in highly protected casing that are subject to a certification verification stage. The housing is subjected to rigorous testing for vibrations, heat, high impact.

“If the source is certified and the packaging and the transport requirements … basically make it a very unlikely occurrence.”

So, I think there's some berkeleyery afoot here.  I've worked with the type of packaging standards and tests that she's talking about in the news article.  In the US the standard is Performance Oriented Packaging, or P.O.P. testing. Europe has a similar standard, I would bet whatever money you want to name that Australia has a similar standard with similar rules.

Basically the standard tests that when dropped, vibrated, or otherwise manhandled or damaged the packaging can withstand the possible damage without allowing the potentially hazardous material within to escape. More hazardous, the more stringent the packaging.  There are standards for everything from laundry detergent up to explosive material (which is where I learned about it.)  These tests are pretty rigorous, and depending on what the actual material is that's being transported you can get a pretty hefty fine if everything isn't hunky dory.

So, with all of that in mind, all I have to say about this is: This capsule wasn't packaged properly, or someone removed it. For something to escape one of these packages you have to open it up, cut it apart, or do some other such thing to get it out.  Someone did this. Either they berkeleyed up the packaging portion of it, or took it out.

No one is going to find this on the walk of shame pictured above.

This is all too disturbingly close to the plot of the classic film "redneck zombies"

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0093833/

Bogan Zombies?

In reply to NOHOME :

Maybe the first time poisonous was used correctly in the context of snakes?

aircooled said:

....An 8mm x 6mm capsule, that emits enough radiation that it is the equivalent of getting ~10 X-Rays per hour, "fell out of a truck" along a 1400km stretch of road in Western Oz...

I am very curious that they seem to imply the capsule was not contained in anything.  It says in the story it's in a casing, yet when describing it, they show not the casing, but the capsule. Being incased in something will make it harder to find, otherwise, there some very easy ways to find radioactive things.

I guess they want people open up any casings they find and see if what is in it matches the description?  Which of course would be supremely stupid.

Sometime news make us stupidier.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-64429375

This is my take also. Certainly this thing wasn't just bouncing along in the back of a truck. It was in a box or on a crate or something... Right?

If it was packed correctly before putting it on the truck  , would a Geiger counter  read any radiation ?
And if "yes" , would there be trace radiation in the truck ?

californiamilleghia said:

If it was packed correctly before putting it on the truck  , would a Geiger counter  read any radiation ?
And if "yes" , would there be trace radiation in the truck ?

Check my post above about P.O.P. standards.  In this case, the radiation would definitely be considered part of the hazardous material it is keeping inside the packaging.

Should be a good way to check if it did happen like they say it did, check the inside of the truck for radiation.   Depending on the type of radiation and length of the drive its even possible the driver could be feeling some effects of the radiation. 

I am way confused here.  A statement from the Aussie press:

The capsule was part of a device believed to have fallen off a truck while being transported between a desert mine site and the city of Perth on Jan. 10. According to a report from Vice, a small cylinder of cesium-137 ceramic source was lost after vibrations from the road loosened a retaining bolt resulting in the cylinder slipping out.

So there was a "device" that is neither named or shown to the public to help find the capsule. I have to think that the "device" would be much larger and hence easier to spot? The press seems evasive about the whole deal and the fact that a single bolt could rattle loose and release the pill does not instill confidence in how radioactive material is transported.

MotorsportsGordon said:

Beer Baron said:

RevRico said:

Oh great, because the wildlife in Australia isn't dangerous enough, let it get radioactive, that'll help things. 

That's going to be one berkeleyed up superhero.

New movie Godzilla in Australia 

Plot twist. Godzilla came from Australia in the first place. It's noteworthy when it attacks Japan, while the Aussies just shrug it off as an unusually large crocodile. What we really have to watch out for now is a radioactive Godzilla. 

In reply to tuna55 :

Probably should read my reply from the first page.


 

In reply to NOHOME :

ditto

Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself said:

A little more insight from the source (also very poorly written, but since this is a quote from Western Australia's Emergency Management, it's kinda difficult to blame any news agency)

“

• The capsule was packaged on 10 January 2023 to be sent to Perth for repair before leaving the site for transport by road between 11 and 14 January 2023.The package holding the capsule arrived in Perth on 16 January and was unloaded and stored in the licensed service provider’s secure radiation store. On 25 January, the gauge was unpacked for inspection. Upon opening the package, it was found that the gauge was broken apart with one of the four mounting bolts missing and the source itself and all screws on the gauge also missing. DFES as the Hazard Management Agency were notified on the evening of 25 January by WA Police."

.”

 

 

So it appears to me that the capsule (and some screws?) are all that is missing from the gauge that the capsule was in when it was packed up for transport.

It was in a gauge that made it to the destination, but the gauge and whatever the gauge was transported in were damaged/compromised during transport.   The only things that are "missing" are the capsule and one mounting bolt along with all of the gauge screws.

There is no point in looking for the gauge, nor what the gauge was packed in, as those are obviously easy to find right now.

barefootcyborg5000 said:

MotorsportsGordon said:

Beer Baron said:

RevRico said:

Oh great, because the wildlife in Australia isn't dangerous enough, let it get radioactive, that'll help things. 

That's going to be one berkeleyed up superhero.

New movie Godzilla in Australia 

Plot twist. Godzilla came from Australia in the first place. It's noteworthy when it attacks Japan, while the Aussies just shrug it off as an unusually large crocodile. What we really have to watch out for now is a radioactive Godzilla. 

What will be the Australian equivalent of mothra to fight Aussie Godzilla?

The gauge was being transported by a subcontracted company, who picked it up from the mine site on 12 January to move it to a storage facility in the north-east suburbs of Perth.

When it was unpacked for inspection on 25 January the gauge was found broken apart and the radioactive capsule was gone. One of four mounting bolts and screws were also missing.

The authorities said vibrations during transit may have caused the bolts to become loose, allowing the capsule to fall through gaps in the casing and truck.

In reply to NOHOME :

Here is one form of transport for Cs-137 gauges.  This wooden box is how they are shipped from the source worldwide.  




Now imagine that box rattling around on the back of a truck for possibly 700+ miles.   And that would only be on its last trip.  

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

So 4 bolts rattled loose, and the capsule then jumped out the top and snuck out of the wood box. 

Guess I can see that happening,... 

And I thought the roads in Ontario were bad.

so the device fell out of a radiation-rated container?

riiiiiiiight

In reply to NOHOME :

5 bolts total rattled loose.    My guess is the one that held it in place came loose first.  Only one is mentioned, so likely they had already lost/stripped one on the bolts that originally held it to the wood, or the other hole was too hogged out in the wood (if my image in the earlier reply was indeed a representation how it was being transported)   Once it wasn't attached to anything, and rattling around all over the place, the other bolts are much more likely to rattle loose.  Especially if they have been removed and replaced multiple times.  


And it was in that back of a truck.
On a road in western Australia.
Coming from a mine...

(Unidentified western Australian road)

(Actual photo of the Gudai-Darri iron ore mine, with a truck on one of its roads)



Regardless, I have had bolts rattle out of plush riding vehicles on good roads in less than 200 miles.

Pete. (l33t FS) said:

so the device fell out of a radiation-rated container?

 

riiiiiiiight

That what the western Australian Emergency Services are saying.

And I don't see it as at all surprising.    We have no idea of the age or serviceability of the container.   All the regulations in the world really don't matter if the people who are supposed to follow them become complacent.  

Some feral child will find it and this will be the catalyst for real life Mad Max. 

NOHOME said:

In reply to Russian Warship, Go Berkeley Yourself :

So 4 bolts rattled loose, and the capsule then jumped out the top and snuck out of the wood box. 

Guess I can see that happening,... 

And I thought the roads in Ontario were bad.

I was on the east side of Australia, where the roads are supposed to be better, and they were pretty bad even for main roads. It was kinda shocking really

FOUND

I guess a new conspiracy theory will need to be found/made up. 

Article says the capsule was only 6mm x 8mm. Amazing they found something that small even with it giving off radiation.

MotorsportsGordon said:

Beer Baron said:

RevRico said:

Oh great, because the wildlife in Australia isn't dangerous enough, let it get radioactive, that'll help things. 

That's going to be one berkeleyed up superhero.

New movie Godzilla in Australia 

I was thinking more along the lines of a very large, very angry kangaroo.......

Monster koalas

triumph7 said:

MotorsportsGordon said:

Beer Baron said:

RevRico said:

Oh great, because the wildlife in Australia isn't dangerous enough, let it get radioactive, that'll help things. 

That's going to be one berkeleyed up superhero.

New movie Godzilla in Australia 

I was thinking more along the lines of a very large, very angry kangaroo.......

Kaiju Dropbear?

In reply to triumph7 :

Look for the indie Aussie film, "Welcome to Woop Woop"