‘Relatively common’: WA’s lost-and-found radioactive capsule not the only missing material around

The tiny capsule that fell out of a Perth-bound truck captured the world’s attention, but experts say hundreds of radioactive sources go missing each year

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If finding the tiny radioactive capsule that went missing in the vast Australian outback was like finding a needle in a haystack, at least the needle was crying out “here I am!”, Dr Edward Obbard says.

Just 8mm by 6mm – the size of a 10c coin – the capsule fell out of a truck on its way from a Rio Tinto mine site in Western Australia’s Pilbara region to Perth, sparking a six-day hunt across the 1,400km desert route.

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