Last week remote Western Australia became the stage for a nuclear drama that drew global attention when a highly radioactive capsule the size of a Tic Tac fell off the back of a truck. Literally.
Here’s an account of how the drama played out:
- Friday, January 27. What they said: “The capsule appears to have been lost in transportation between mine sites north of Newman and in northeastern parts of Perth.” — Western Australia department of fire & emergency services chief superintendent David Gill.
What they meant: That’s a 1,400km stretch of road.
What they said: “It is quite a large radiation dose.” — Western Australia chief health officer Andrew Robertson.
What they meant: Stay the hell away from it. Nineteen gigabecquerels of caesium 137 didn’t mean much to most people, nor did the 2-millisieverts of radiation the capsule emits per hour. But that’s equivalent to receiving 10 X-rays in an hour — the amount of radiation a person could expect to receive naturally over the course of a year.
Radiation exists widely in the environment, but usually at tiny levels. Bananas contain the unstable isotope potassium-40 and typically include one microsievert (one one-thousandth of a millisievert). So you could say it was the equivalent of eating 2,000 bananas in an hour. Also something to avoid.
- Saturday, January 28. What they said: “Rio Tinto was informed of the missing capsule by a contractor on January 25. The contractor, an expert radioactive materials handler, was engaged by Rio Tinto to handle and package the capsule and transport it safely off site.” — Rio Tinto spokesperson.
What they meant: It might be ours, but we didn’t do it. (After destroying 46,000-year-old sacred rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in Western Australia to expand an iron ore mine in 2020 and after an internal company review found more than 20 women had reported rape or sexual assault at its mining camps over a five-year period, the mining giant was desperate to avoid a further dent in its social licence to operate. As well it might.)
- Monday, January 30. What they said: “I don’t think anyone can quite believe that something that’s highly radioactive has fallen off the back of a truck.” — Curtin University nuclear scientist Nigel Marks.
What they meant: FFS — is it amateur hour in the transport of hazardous materials?
(These capsules, part of a so-called density gauge commonly used in mining, are carried weekly without incident on the Great Northern Highway between Rio’s Gudai-Darri mine in the Kimberley region and Perth. Maybe they were unlucky — or maybe they have just been lucky every time until now. What was clear was that the gauge was picked up from the mine site on January 12 and when unpacked in Perth on January 25 the gauge was broken and the capsule missing.)
- Tuesday, January 31. What they said: “Right now, the key focus of government activity is to try and find it.” — State commerce minister Sue Ellery.
What they meant: Thank God we don’t have an election coming up.
What they said. “We’re coming at it from an investigation perspective to see if there were criminal actions involved. We’ve pretty much determined that’s not the case.” — Western Australia police commissioner Col Blanch.
What they meant. This was an accidental, rather than deliberate, stuff-up.
- Wednesday, February 1. What they said: “The search groups have quite literally found the needle in the haystack.” — Western Australia emergency services minister Stephen Dawson.
What they meant: I’m so glad I can keep my job. (The silver-coloured stainless steel capsule was lying 2m from the side of the road and picked up by a radiation-detecting device mounted on a Toyota Prado authorities had rented for the search.)
What they said: “It shouldn’t have been lost, that’s the first thing.” — Prime minister Anthony Albanese.
What they meant: Thank God a federal government agency had the equipment to resolve a state government problem, and not vice versa.
What they said: “I would be happy to reimburse the cost of the search.” — Rio Tinto iron ore CEO Simon Trott.
What they meant: Please let us keep mining.
What they said: “Let’s wait and see what happens with the investigation as to who we can apportion blame to but certainly I do want to state again Rio Tinto have been exceptional in terms of how they reached out to us, offered all levels of support, so I’m very grateful for that offer and to Simon Trott.” — Emergency services minister Stephen Dawson.
What they meant: Get your chequebook out, Simon.
Epilogue: Investigations are under way to determine what happened and the capsule is now stored at an undisclosed location in Perth. Let’s hope they remember where they put it.
• Bleby is a senior reporter with The Australian Financial Review, based in Melbourne.
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