A tiny but dangerous radioactive widget that fell off a truck on a remote road in Western Australia has been recovered.
(Bloomberg) — A tiny but dangerous radioactive widget that fell off a truck on a remote road in Western Australia has been recovered.
The capsule went missing last month, apparently while being ferried from one of Rio Tinto Plc’s massive iron ore mines in the Pilbara to a depot in Perth. Health authorities had warned anyone who managed to spot the 6 millimeter-long device not to pick it up.
“The radioactive substance has been found and no longer poses a risk to the community,” the Western Australia emergencies department said on its website Wednesday.
The exact circumstances behind the capsule’s disappearance are still mysterious. A package containing the device made it to Perth on Jan. 16, but its toxic contents were found to be missing on Jan. 25.
Read more: The Search for Rio Tinto’s Toxic Capsule, Somewhere in Australia
“It’s a good result, as I’ve said it’s certainly a needle in a haystack that has been found, and I think West Australians can sleep better tonight,” the state’s emergency services minister Stephen Dawson told reporters, according to the ABC.
The device was used at Rio’s mines to measure the density of iron ore.
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