Australian mining company loses a Caesium-137 density gague capsule (Beta emitte

[Manti]

Interesting story from yesterday: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64448879

Rio Tinto, an Australian mining company apparently lost a small capsule containing Caesium-137 in the desert of Western Australia.

Looking into this, it's mainly a Beta emitter and touching it can cause burns, and keeping it closeby for a while - I assume days - can cause radiation poisoning.I wonder if something similar might have been left behind in the mine near 2nd Northern settlement that the Dyatlov group took a look around.

[Missi]

That's an interesting idea.

You think, maybe one of the guys found something like it and took it with him? I've already thought about some ore of mineral someone could have taken, but didn't find something fitting the region and the beta emission.

We'd have to establish, if something like it was already known in 1959. And if it was used in the USSR.

[karpov]

Radioactive capsule: why six tenants of one apartment died in 9 years For nine years from 1980 to 1989 in one of the new buildings of the city of Kramatorsk, six tenants successively died one after the other. Perhaps there would have been many more deaths, and the house would have been reputed to be cursed, if not for the persistence of one of the residents. Strange deaths In 1980, in the city of Kramatorsk, which is located in the Donetsk region in Ukraine, another residential building was commissioned. Joyful citizens quickly settled into brand-new comfortable apartments. The tenant of one of them was happy, like everyone else, until a year after the housewarming she had trouble - her daughter died. But this terrible loss was far from the last. The following year, her son also passed away. The mother followed the children. The apartment was empty. The municipal authorities gave housing to another family, which also had a child. Soon the boy fell ill and died. It seemed that some terrible curse was hanging over the apartment. Moreover, absolutely all the deceased were diagnosed with the same disease shortly before their death - blood cancer. However, the father of the deceased child decided at all costs to achieve a thorough investigation of the strange deaths. Capsule in the wall In 1989, specialists armed with dosimeters came to the ill-fated apartment. To their horror, they found radiation levels in the room that exceeded the norm by several times. During a detailed study of the rooms in one of the walls, experts found a miniature capsule containing the radioactive nuclide caesium-137. As a result of the study of the capsule, it turned out that it is a part of the construction device of the level gauge or, as it is popularly called, the level. According to the data indicated on the capsule, the organization to which this level gauge once belonged was calculated, as well as, in turn, the circumstances due to which the radioactive element was immured in the wall. How did she get there? Not far from Kramatorsk, in the same place in the Donetsk region, there was a Karansky quarry, from where trucks with rubble were on construction sites. A deadly capsule was lost in the 1970s by one of the workers just on the territory of the quarry. Then it could not be detected. And this is no wonder: such a capsule does not exceed 1 centimeter in length. Therefore, soon the incident was simply forgotten. Meanwhile, in 1980, caesium-137 found itself in the wall of one of the new buildings. However, the four tenants mentioned above were not the only victims of monstrous negligence. 2 more people who lived in neighboring apartments died from cancer. And 17 people received various doses of radiation. Many of them have remained permanently disabled. Julia Popova

Source: Radioactive Capsule: Why six tenants of One Apartment Died in 9 Years
© Russian Seven russian7.ru

https://russian7.ru/post/radioaktivnaya-kapsula-pochemu-za-9-let-u/

[Manti]

Here's an accident that happened in 2019 in northern Russia that was definitely covered up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyonoksa_radiation_accident

Regarding the original topic, it looks like Caesium-137 was being made from the 40s onwards but I haven't been able to find anything about when it started to be used in measuring equipment used in mining...

If there the DPI was a radiation exposure event, it would explain so many things, like why a geiger counter was used during the search, why the Ravine 4 were tested for radiation, why Ivanov thought they were "already doomed", why mentions of radiation were removed from the case files, etc. But it doesn't explain the Ravine 4's injuries. As such, it will always be just a potential part of the solution

[Missi]

We forget something important:

Being close to radiation does not make your clothes radioactive. IF a capsule like the one mentioned above was the reason for the traces of radioactivity in the clothes, they must have opened the device somehow. Or its hull must have been breached.
Would it be possible to open a thing like that while on a hike with only knifes and tools for chopping wood and sewing?

[Manti]

In the Goiânia incident that happened in Brazil, people opened a similar(?) capsule with a screwdriver. They saw a dark blue glow. I would think the Dyatlov group would mention this in their diaries. Also, they would be smart enough not to open it, although once you do, there's no way back. Or maybe it was already breached. Maybe they didn't even find a capsule, just slept where dust from a previously breached one has settled in 2nd Northern village.


Given that they found pyrite, I think it was an iron mine and the capsule is used in iron ore density gages...

[Missi]

I doubt they had a screwdriver with them, but if it's possible to open a capsule with one, a knife should work as well, I guess. I agree, that they'd have mentioned it, if there had been something extraordinary like a blue glow.

I find it more convincing, that they didn't take a capsule but only came near a breached one. But that must have happened in the house at northern 2nd, else there wouldn't have been any chance to get dust on the clothes.

[Manti]

Maybe I am even wrong about it being an iron ore mine because https://www.mindat.org/loc-407015.html says that exploitable deposits in the Northern Ural are gold and platinum.

[GlennM]

...and I thought it was Igor's fascination with radio technology! All this time,,I'm thinking he wanted to make a stereo system, not squirreling away fissionable material in a coat pocket.

Correct me here, but are not beta emitters letting electron fly about? That is a lot tamer than proton and neutron emitters which have a penchant for scissoring up DNA. Think plutonium here. They would be a whole lot more spendy to make, and likely more quickly missed out of the proverbial drawer.

[Missi]

Beta radiation is electrons being emitted. Alpha radiation is helium cores being emitted. You can protect yourself from alpha radiation (to an extend) by using paper. Beta radiation needs more than a paper for protection.

[GlennM]

It would certainly be a bold stroke to be toting radioactive materials about while trusting that neither of the fair sex were pregnant.

If the Russians were as captivated by Godzilla and other radiation induced creature features as the Western world, they should at least have some reservations about the stuff.