Australia’s nuclear security company joins hunt for radioactive capsule

By Melanie Burton

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia’s nuclear security company mentioned on Tuesday it had joined the hunt for a radioactive capsule lacking within the west of the nation.

Australian Radiation Safety and Nuclear Security Company (ARPANSA) is working with the Western Australian authorities to find the capsule, it mentioned in a press release.

The capsule, believed to have fallen from a truck, was a part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore feed which had been entrusted to a specialist contractor to move. The loss could have occurred as much as two weeks in the past.

Authorities are actually grappling with the daunting activity of looking out alongside the truck’s 1,400 kilometre (870 mile) journey from north of Newman – a small city within the distant Kimberley area – to a storage facility within the northeast suburbs of Perth – a distance longer than the size of Nice Britain.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Enhancing by Alasdair Pal)