![]() That’s about one-twentieth of the dose people who work with radiation are allowed to get in a year. If you were standing a metre away from it for an hour, you would receive a radiation dose of around 1 millisievert. The source doesn’t pose much of a danger to casual passers-by. Most of these incidents are due to carelessness or disregard for proper procedures. Each year, the CNS Global Incidents and Trafficking Database records 150 or so such incidents around the world. Radioactive sources which are lost, stolen, or otherwise leave regulated control are known as “orphan sources”. If you’re moving it, you need to follow detailed rules for safety, packaging and record-keeping. You need a licence to own and use a radioactive source at a particular location. At the national level, this is overseen by the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA), while each state and territory also has its own regulator.Īre bananas really 'radioactive'? An expert clears up common misunderstandings about radiation There are well-established procedures and strict regulations for making sure this happens safely. There are also several private companies who transport radioactive sources. Each month, the Australian Nuclear Science & Technology Organisation (ANSTO) ships some 2,000 packages containing nuclear medicine around Australia. Transporting radioactive sources is a commonplace activity. Radioactive sources are common, but they rarely go missing It is used in some cancer treatments, for measuring the thickness of metal or the flow of liquids, and – as in this case, reportedly – for calibrating radiation gauges. The source has an activity of 19 gigabecquerels, which means it emits about 19 billion high-energy photons per second.Ĭaesium-137 is dangerous stuff, but the radiation it produces can also be very useful. The beta radiation is blocked by the shell of the capsule, but the gamma radiation streams right through it. The capsule contains caesium-137, a radioactive isotope which spits out electrons (or beta radiation) and high-energy photons (or gamma radiation). What is the capsule and what was it used for?
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