Humans are prone to misplace things. From car keys to a missing sock, lost objects are a part of our everyday lives. But what if the object was dangerous?

               In the beginning of 2023, headlines were made about how Australia lost a radioactive capsule. Lost radioactive material, known as orphan sources, are, surprisingly, not uncommon. BBC reporter Antoinette Radford writes in an article “Of the nearly 4,000 radioactive sources that have gone missing since the International Atomic Energy Agency started tracking them in 1993, 8% are believed to have been taken for malicious reasons, and 65% were lost accidentally. It is unclear what happened to the rest.”

               Radioactive and nuclear materials are not inherently dangerous. When handled with respect, the materials can power countries, advance scientific discoveries, and help stop cancer. But when accountability for such an important, and dangerous, material is not held with the highest degree of care, preventable accidents are bound to occur.

               While the Australian orphan source was found and properly handled without any known exposure over background level, this has not always been the case. In Goiânia Brazil, 1987, after a hospital closed, their radiotherapy unit was abandoned. Scrap metal dealing is a way to make money in Goiânia, so when two men came across the unit, they began to pick it apart. They found the source, but had no idea of the dangers it held. The cesium-137, a radioisotope, passed from person to person, everyone fascinated with how the powdered substance glimmered and glowed. But soon, the people who had been near the powder began falling ill. Doctors kept putting it off as a tropical disease. It took a while for the authorities to realize what was happening, but by then the contamination had spread across the city. 28 were hospitalized with radiation burns, and four passed away. The youngest victim was six years old.

               Both lifesaving and life ending, radioactive sources must be monitored with the highest degree of care. Efforts to eliminate any potential civilian contact is key if radioactive materials are to continue to be used.