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| australia nuclear easter egg hunt? |
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| coppercone2:
you would think its monitored for radiation output while being transported by a data logger to show exactly when there was a radiation spike. Or monitored inside of the instrument to show when there was a radiation decrease because the module was removed. Like to alert the driver that something went missing or that there was a containment breach and the truck is dangerous. Then they would know when it happened and you could correlate it with GPS time stamps to figure out where it fell out of the truck, to narrow the search area down by 1000 miles or so. The whole situation screams negligence by many parties, including technicians, project managers and regulation designers. |
| vk6zgo:
--- Quote from: bigfoot22 on January 28, 2023, 02:50:54 pm ---I agree it sounds a bit sus to me too. You would think it would be inside of a lead lined box, the box latched, and placed somewhere safe. Bare minimum. Though considering the condition of the roads in Australia.... --- End quote --- It's not a dirt road, but a perfectly good sealed one, so it will almost certainly be along the edge of the road somewhere. The State Chief Medical Officer says it isn't dangerous unless you spend some time within 5 metres of it, but to err on the side of safety, try to keep it at 20m. If it is still "suss" at 20m, that implies that it would be detectable at that sort of distance, as well. Several vehicles with appropriate detection equipment could do a slow run along the route, to speed up the process. |
| sleemanj:
--- Quote from: vk6zgo on January 28, 2023, 11:52:51 pm ---It's not a dirt road, but a perfectly good sealed one, so it will almost certainly be along the edge of the road somewhere. --- End quote --- This article sounds like the search area is now "only" 36km https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/300794718/tiny-radioactive-capsule-lost-in-australia-triggers-search but... "There are concerns the solid capsule may have already become lodged in another vehicle’s tyre and potentially be hundreds of km away from the search area." |
| Someone:
So we have a pile of comments from people either from other countries (where such materials are taken less seriously) or who have no idea about radioisotopes and their practical applications. These sorts of devices are relatively common: https://roads-waterways.transport.nsw.gov.au/business-industry/partners-suppliers/documents/test-methods/field-density-testing-by-using-a-nuclear-gauge.pdf If you see a tradespersons ute driving around with a radiation trefoil placard it is likely this or something similar (welding inspection being less common but a similar scale/complexity). Note that there will be multiple "layers" of passive containment/retention, which is the big question around how this item got loose. Someone had to leave multiple steps out of the procedure and not store the device inside an outer container. The dose rate publicly announced (1-2mSv/h at 1m) is a real hazard if it were to end up in a tire parked in a persons garage, if picked up as a curiosity and held close to the body (such as in a pocket) for some hours would cause burns! That rate would be detected very easily by normal handheld occupational survey meters, out to 10m or more. Sensitive instruments will pick that up at 100m or so (direct line of sight) but probably work too slowly to be air towed. Walking pace is about right: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-28/radioactive-capsule-search-perth-to-pilbara-/101902914 |
| Someone:
--- Quote from: karpouzi9 on January 29, 2023, 01:26:17 am ---It was probably actually stolen, right? --- End quote --- Not much value in the item and significant amounts of danger, unlikely anyone would steal it knowingly. |
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