4 ms·

Missing radioactive capsule sparks urgent health alert in Western Australia

11 points by sva_ 4y ago

gus_massa 4y ago
For a comparison of what can go wrong, there was an accident in Brazil in 1987 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident The source in Brazil was much bigger in size (like 6x6x6 bigger in size) and I guess the Brazilian one is also bigger in radioactivity, but after trying for a while to use Google and WolframAlpha to convert terabecquerels to x-rays (at least to get a rough estimation), I officially give up. (The Brazilian one has a radioactive powder. Perhaps this one is solid that is easier to contain, but the article has very little info.)
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- csdvrx 4y ago
  > Four months before the theft, on May 4, 1987, Saura Taniguti, then director of Ipasgo, the institute of insurance for civil servants, used police force to prevent one of the owners of IGR, Carlos Figueiredo Bezerril, from removing the radioactive material that had been left behind.[7] Figueiredo then warned the president of Ipasgo, Lício Teixeira Borges, that he should take responsibility "for what would happen with the caesium bomb".[7] The Court of Goiás posted a security guard to protect the site.[8] Meanwhile, the owners of IGR wrote several letters to the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN), warning them about the danger of keeping a teletherapy unit at an abandoned site, but they could not remove the equipment by themselves once a court order prevented them from doing so.[7][8] > In light of the deaths caused, the three doctors who had owned and operated IGR were charged with criminal negligence. Because the accidents occurred before the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988 and because the substance was acquired by the clinic and not by the individual owners, the court could not declare the owners of IGR liable. One of IGR's owners and the clinic's physicist were ordered to pay R$100,000 for the derelict condition of the building. The two thieves were not included as defendants in the public civil suit. Talk about blaming the messenger, after having prepared the setup of a failure. The director of Ipasgo has blood on his hands.
- cosama 4y ago
  The wikipedia article you linked mentioned that the Goiânia source was 50.9 TBq (1,380 Ci) when lost, the source in question here is probably 1-10 mCi, so about a million times weaker. See this other thread about the incidence: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34549126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34549126
1970-01-01 4y ago
Seems simple enough to solve if it just fell off a truck. This distance is about a week of walking. Get an emergency search team of hikers (maybe cyclists) with Geiger counters, start at both ends, and go.
- namaria 4y ago
  Ah yes summoning squads of geiger counter yielding walkers (maybe give then bicicles! wow) to cover a thousand miles of outback roads looking for a little piece of metal. Definition of simple.
- rgmerk 4y ago
  I assume you’ve never been to Australia. It’s the middle of summer (daytime temperatures are around 100 degrees Farenheit every day) and that road is one of the most isolated sealed roads on Earth. I’m sure it can be done but it’s not exactly ideal conditions.
mrlonglong 4y ago
This isn't the first time the Australians have lost things of this nature. I do remember something similar to this happening a few years back.
- zote 4y ago
  Not Australia, but this came to mind https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramatorsk_radiological_accident https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramatorsk_radiological_acci...

11 points by sva_ 4y ago

For a comparison of what can go wrong, there was an accident in Brazil in 1987 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident The source in Brazil was much bigger in size (like 6x6x6 bigger in size) and I guess the Brazilian one is also bigger in radioactivity, but after trying for a while to use Google and WolframAlpha to convert terabecquerels to x-rays (at least to get a rough estimation), I officially give up. (The Brazilian one has a radioactive powder. Perhaps this one is solid that is easier to contain, but the article has very little info.)

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
csdvrx 4y ago
> Four months before the theft, on May 4, 1987, Saura Taniguti, then director of Ipasgo, the institute of insurance for civil servants, used police force to prevent one of the owners of IGR, Carlos Figueiredo Bezerril, from removing the radioactive material that had been left behind.[7] Figueiredo then warned the president of Ipasgo, Lício Teixeira Borges, that he should take responsibility "for what would happen with the caesium bomb".[7] The Court of Goiás posted a security guard to protect the site.[8] Meanwhile, the owners of IGR wrote several letters to the National Nuclear Energy Commission (CNEN), warning them about the danger of keeping a teletherapy unit at an abandoned site, but they could not remove the equipment by themselves once a court order prevented them from doing so.[7][8] > In light of the deaths caused, the three doctors who had owned and operated IGR were charged with criminal negligence. Because the accidents occurred before the promulgation of the Federal Constitution of 1988 and because the substance was acquired by the clinic and not by the individual owners, the court could not declare the owners of IGR liable. One of IGR's owners and the clinic's physicist were ordered to pay R$100,000 for the derelict condition of the building. The two thieves were not included as defendants in the public civil suit. Talk about blaming the messenger, after having prepared the setup of a failure. The director of Ipasgo has blood on his hands.
cosama 4y ago
The wikipedia article you linked mentioned that the Goiânia source was 50.9 TBq (1,380 Ci) when lost, the source in question here is probably 1-10 mCi, so about a million times weaker. See this other thread about the incidence: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34549126 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34549126

1970-01-01 4y ago

Seems simple enough to solve if it just fell off a truck. This distance is about a week of walking. Get an emergency search team of hikers (maybe cyclists) with Geiger counters, start at both ends, and go.

namaria 4y ago
Ah yes summoning squads of geiger counter yielding walkers (maybe give then bicicles! wow) to cover a thousand miles of outback roads looking for a little piece of metal. Definition of simple.
rgmerk 4y ago
I assume you’ve never been to Australia. It’s the middle of summer (daytime temperatures are around 100 degrees Farenheit every day) and that road is one of the most isolated sealed roads on Earth. I’m sure it can be done but it’s not exactly ideal conditions.

mrlonglong 4y ago

This isn't the first time the Australians have lost things of this nature. I do remember something similar to this happening a few years back.

zote 4y ago
Not Australia, but this came to mind https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramatorsk_radiological_accident https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramatorsk_radiological_acci...