Teacher discovers a mysterious radioactive rock at Sydney school

A radioactive rock has been discovered by a teacher ‘playing around’ with a radiation detection device. 

The incident not only sparked panic at the school, but also at the NSW Department of Education (DoE) and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO).

The head science teacher at Randwick Girls’ High School in Sydney‘s eastern suburbs brought a Geiger counter to the classroom and was testing it out when she made a shocking discovery – there was a radioactive rock in the science storeroom.

She knew instantly how serious this could be and told school principal Lucy Andre about the distressing find. 

Ms Andre, a former head of science at the school, also immediately recognised the possible danger and contacted the DoE.

‘(She) acted very swiftly and cordoned off this location from students and staff,’ Murat Dizdar, deputy secretary school performance at DoE, he told Daily Mail Australia.

‘That was the appropriate action to take because we were unsure what this material was.’

DoE knew that no risks could be taken and immediately brought in the professionals from ANSTO. ‘They are the experts (and they) undertook a comprehensive survey of the area,’ Mr Dizdar said.

‘We asked them to check every science teaching space and every science lab, where possibly (more of) such material could be.’

The ANSTO officers carefully, took the radioactive rock away in a lead box for analysis.

Mr Dizdar emphasised that at no time were the pupils in danger. 

‘This is a location restricted from students, a no-go area for students. It’s a science prep room for our science teachers,’ he said. 

But with the science area and the school declared safe, just one mystery remains – how did the radioactive rock get there in the first place? 

It seems likely the rock was in the science storeroom for quite some time and whoever brought it in certainly did not know it was radioactive.

Teachers made the decision not to inform students of what was going on as they did not want to unnecessarily alarm the pupils. 

‘No student would have been aware of this,’ Mr Dizdar said.  

‘When we cordoned off the space we briefed our staff and students to say we were investigating some material in the site.’

The school was not closed, though the area where the rock had been found remained off limits until the DoE got the all clear from ANSTO.

‘They have given us their professional opinion that there’s no harm posed to staff or students,’ Mr Dizdar said.

‘(ANSTO) issued the department and the school with a clearance certificate. 

‘Their advice to the department was that you’d have to hold this material in your hand for about 250 hours to reach the allowable annual radiation dose that’s set nationally by Australia’s nuclear regulator.’ 

The situation was discussed in a staff meeting on Thursday afternoon. ‘The staff really valued that meeting and I’m told it went really well,’ Mr Dizdar said.

‘The ANSTO experts were there to brief them and to field any questions. They took considerable comfort knowing the expert advice was that the place was safe.’

Ms Andre wrote to the parents of the schoolgirls on Thursday to explain what had happened and that their daughters were never in any danger. 

She said action was taken ‘to contain and isolate a very small amount of radioactive material found … in the storeroom’.

‘We have been informed that the risk to staff and students is negligible.

‘ANTSO have confirmed that no harm was posed to staff or students with the sample significantly below the allowable annual radiation dose limit set by Australia’s nuclear regulator, ARPANSA (the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency),’ Ms Andre said. 

She finished the letter by saying ‘I appreciate this information may be unsettling to our school community, but I would like to reassure you that all science laboratories and storerooms have been declared safe by ANSTO and can be reoccupied’.