So, who had "radioactive drop bears" on their 2023 bingo card?

[NT2C]

Radioactive Capsule Goes Missing After Falling Off a Truck

[tirls]

6x8mm on 870 Miles...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kramatorsk_radiological_accident
It's not the first time someone dropped one either.

[EBuff75]

Sheesh, that's all we need - radioactive cocaine bears!  Makes murder hornets look like a sunny day in the park!

[MacWa77ace]

Gauge?

Not an encapsulated tool type of gauge. How do they even use it in mining if its dangerous.

Robertson said the capsule emits a "reasonable" amount of radiation roughly equivalent to someone receiving 10 X-rays in one hour if they came within 3 feet of it.

This should be locatable by driving down the road with a detector.

[Raptor]

Sounds like something one of my clients would do and then call me up to ask for help.

"I need you to look between Houston, Tx & Denver Co (~ 870 miles) for an object about the size of a bullet from a 25 acp round that was dropped somewhere, could be anywhere by now. Oh and BTW if you find it do not go within 3 feet of it."

Or to quote the article:

With stoic understatement, Department of Fire and Emergency Services Country North chief superintendent David Gill acknowledged that finding such a tiny capsule over such a vast area will present "challenges."

I am not sure about Australia but in the US this would result in massive regulatory issues, fines and all manner of unpleasantness. They use isotopes like this in the oil patch for instrument calibration but they do not lose them. I am not saying they never misplace them...just that they seem more likely to get lost downhole than to be lost on the highway.
   

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I like how the Department of Fire and Emergency Services guy is like "Well, finding something that small in such a large area will present some challenges."

Yeah, no kidding it'll present a challenge.

If it didn't, y'all would've found it by now or wouldn't have lost it in the first place.

[Anianna]

I have questions.  How was this being transported that it was able to just fall off of a truck?  Why was it not in a shielded container for transportation?  How do they store it on site?  Are employees just always exposed to this thing because the company can't be bothered to build a bucket-sized cement urn or a smaller lead pig to keep it in? 

Does the company have more than one of these and are careless with all of them??

What the hell is the purpose of this thing for mining?

And one non-question: EMU EAT SHINY THINGS, THIS THING COULD BE ANYWHERE BY NOW!!

[NT2C]

I have questions.  How was this being transported that it was able to just fall off of a truck?  Why was it not in a shielded container for transportation?  How do they store it on site?  Are employees just always exposed to this thing because the company can't be bothered to build a bucket-sized cement urn or a smaller lead pig to keep it in? 

Does the company have more than one of these and are careless with all of them??

What the hell is the purpose of this thing for mining?

And one non-question: EMU EAT SHINY THINGS, THIS THING COULD BE ANYWHERE BY NOW!!

So, you're saying the Emu War could be going nuclear?   

[Anianna]

I have questions.  How was this being transported that it was able to just fall off of a truck?  Why was it not in a shielded container for transportation?  How do they store it on site?  Are employees just always exposed to this thing because the company can't be bothered to build a bucket-sized cement urn or a smaller lead pig to keep it in? 

Does the company have more than one of these and are careless with all of them??

What the hell is the purpose of this thing for mining?

And one non-question: EMU EAT SHINY THINGS, THIS THING COULD BE ANYWHERE BY NOW!!

So, you're saying the Emu War could be going nuclear? 

YES!

[12_Gauge_Chimp]

I have questions.  How was this being transported that it was able to just fall off of a truck?  Why was it not in a shielded container for transportation?  How do they store it on site?  Are employees just always exposed to this thing because the company can't be bothered to build a bucket-sized cement urn or a smaller lead pig to keep it in? 

Does the company have more than one of these and are careless with all of them??

What the hell is the purpose of this thing for mining?

And one non-question: EMU EAT SHINY THINGS, THIS THING COULD BE ANYWHERE BY NOW!!

Should be easy to find now.

All they have to do now is just look for the brightly glowing emu.

[Anianna]

I would just like to put this in perspective; the vitamin C supplement that I swallow daily is larger than the radioactive thing they dropped off a fecking truck on the fecking highway.  For the record, my vitamin C is also better contained.

[EBuff75]

I would just like to put this in perspective; the vitamin C supplement that I swallow daily is larger than the radioactive thing they dropped off a fecking truck on the fecking highway.  For the record, my vitamin C is also better contained.

Unfortunately for me, one of my cinnamon pills became "uncontained" this week right after I put it into my mouth.  Four or five glasses of water later I was fine, but that first few moments had me unwillingly reliving the cinnamon challenge from a few years ago!

[NT2C]

I would just like to put this in perspective; the vitamin C supplement that I swallow daily is larger than the radioactive thing they dropped off a fecking truck on the fecking highway.  For the record, my vitamin C is also better contained.

Unfortunately for me, one of my cinnamon pills became "uncontained" this week right after I put it into my mouth.  Four or five glasses of water later I was fine, but that first few moments had me unwillingly reliving the cinnamon challenge from a few years ago!

[NT2C]

I would just like to put this in perspective; the vitamin C supplement that I swallow daily is larger than the radioactive thing they dropped off a fecking truck on the fecking highway.  For the record, my vitamin C is also better contained.

(artist rendering)

[tirls]

Someone needs to make radioactive emu war into a film.

There's a feral group of 600 Nandus roaming wild in the northeast here.

[Anianna]

I would just like to put this in perspective; the vitamin C supplement that I swallow daily is larger than the radioactive thing they dropped off a fecking truck on the fecking highway.  For the record, my vitamin C is also better contained.

Unfortunately for me, one of my cinnamon pills became "uncontained" this week right after I put it into my mouth.  Four or five glasses of water later I was fine, but that first few moments had me unwillingly reliving the cinnamon challenge from a few years ago!

I have esophageal spasm and get pills stuck on a fairly regular basis.  No way I would risk taking cinnamon as a pill.  I do mix copious amounts of cinnamon in applesauce or peach oatmeal every day.  It's much more palatable and tolerable that way.  I add a little turmeric, too.

[NT2C]

Rio Tinto apologises for losing radioactive capsule in Australia

[Anianna]

Rio Tinto apologises for losing radioactive capsule in Australia

QUOTE: The capsule may have gone missing up to two weeks ago.

Oh, godammit they don't even know when they lost it.  Seems like there's a decent chance it might not even be along the route they think they lost it on. 

I feel like the conversation went something like, "Well, it was at this facility and then Charlie here is pretty sure he popped it on a truck to go to this other facility, and now we just don't know where it is." 

Yes, I wrote that in an Australian accent.  Read it appropriately. 

I wonder if they all checked the bottoms of their boots yet.

[Raptor]

Rio Tinto apologises for losing radioactive capsule in Australia

QUOTE: The capsule may have gone missing up to two weeks ago.

Oh, godammit they don't even know when they lost it.  Seems like there's a decent chance it might not even be along the route they think they lost it on. 

I feel like the conversation went something like, "Well, it was at this facility and then Charlie here is pretty sure he popped it on a truck to go to this other facility, and now we just don't know where it is." 

Yes, I wrote that in an Australian accent.  Read it appropriately. 

I think we would all be agast at how often similar conversations occur at all levels of organizations & government in all languages and all accents. 

[NT2C]

Rio Tinto apologises for losing radioactive capsule in Australia

QUOTE: The capsule may have gone missing up to two weeks ago.

Oh, godammit they don't even know when they lost it.  Seems like there's a decent chance it might not even be along the route they think they lost it on. 

I feel like the conversation went something like, "Well, it was at this facility and then Charlie here is pretty sure he popped it on a truck to go to this other facility, and now we just don't know where it is." 

Yes, I wrote that in an Australian accent.  Read it appropriately. 

I wonder if they all checked the bottoms of their boots yet.

Somewhere in there they also said that they checked the equipment it was in with a Geiger counter before the truck left and made sure it was in there.