Well they managed to do it: The lost radioactive capsule in Western Australia has been found

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A tiny radioactive capsule about the size of a Tic Tac has caused an emergency public health warning in Western Australia. The capsule went missing on January 25th after a radiation gauge broke at Rio Tinto’s most technologically advanced mine near Newman.

A third-party contractor was transporting the gauge for repair when the radioactive caesium-137 capsule disappeared. Authorities believed it fell out of the gauge and the packaging it was in, and rolled itself out of the truck through a gap left by a loose bolt. A multi-agency response team was assembled to find the capsule and search 1,400 kilometres along the Great Northern Highway. The radioactive capsule posed a potential health risk, but experts said one would need to hold it for about an hour to receive radiation burns.

ABC Animation: Lost Australian Radioactive Capsule

Lost Australian radioactive capsule is smaller than a ten cent coin.

On February 1st, authorities received reports about a tiny silver capsule, but it was not the missing one. However later that day, the missing capsule was finally found 70 kilometres northeast of Perth. The potential penalty for mishandling radioactive materials was just a $1,000 fine, which the Australian Prime Minister called “ridiculously low.”

The situation was mocked in Australia and around the world for the bizarre nature of the emergency.

Satire Video (Australian Broadcasting Corperation’s 7.30):

The miner Rio Tinto has promised to pay the state government for the search and an inquiry into the situation is ongoing.