A small but highly radioactive capsule that went missing in the Australian outback was found Wednesday after a frantic week-long search along an 870-mile highway.
The potentially deadly capsule, smaller than a coin and believed to have fallen off a mining company truck, was discovered on the side of the road as authorities scoured an area nearly the size of California.
“The search groups have literally found the needle in the haystack,” said Stephen Dawson, Western Australia’s emergency services minister, during a news conference early Wednesday.
Dawson hailed the success after what he described as a “monumental challenge”, saying the capsule was found just outside Newman, a town in Western Australia’s Pilbara region.
The radioactive device was reported to have fallen from a truck on Jan. 10 during its long journey from a desert mine near Newman to a storage facility in Perth.
Emergency services were first notified last Wednesday, officials said, and alerted the public last Friday.
Officials warned against any contact with the dangerous substance and launched a relentless hunt for the round and silver capsule, which is 6 millimeters in diameter and 8 millimeters long.
The capsule’s radioactive source, cesium-137, emits potentially lethal amounts of radiation, nearly equivalent to receiving 10 X-rays in an hour, and prolonged exposure can even cause cancer. It takes cesium-137 nearly 30 years to decay by half.
Mining giant Rio Tinto Iron Ore apologized for the loss of the radioactive device and said it was conducting an internal investigation into how the potentially deadly and radioactive substance, commonly used in gauges in mining operations was lost.
After a search of the Australian outback hampered not only by its size, but also by fires and floods, authorities who, according to Dawson, were driving a vehicle manned with specialized equipment, discovered radiation emitted from the capsule.
They then used portable sensing equipment to locate the capsule.
Western Australia’s Department of Fire and Emergency Services announced on Twitter that the capsule had been “monitored and contained”.
“The Australian Defense Force is currently verifying the capsule by its serial number,” Fire Commissioner Darren Klemm said at the press conference.
“A hot zone of 20 meters has been set up around the capsule,” he said, adding that it was placed in a lead container to protect it from radiation.
Dawson said agencies involved in the operation were now arranging the safe transport of the capsule and an investigation was underway into why the capsule was lost.
“I want to emphasize that this is an extraordinary result from Western Australians and Australians,” said Dawson.
Western Australia’s Chief Health Officer Andrew Robertson said it was unlikely anyone suffered any injuries as a result of the lost radioactive capsule.
“It doesn’t seem to have moved,” Robertson said at the press conference. “It appears to have fallen off the truck and landed on the side of the road. It’s so remote it’s not in a large community, so it’s unlikely anyone was exposed to the capsule.”
The capsule will be taken to a secure facility in the city of Perth on Thursday, officials said.