[jcims]

I’m curious how you don’t know that you cut into the capsule. It’s supposedly a white powder, wouldn’t it make a cloud?

Also if this is possible wouldn’t you put sone contingencies in place, like mount the grinder on limited travel arm or something? Sound’s like they just went at it with a $30 DeWalt.

The whole thing seems kind of ridiculous.

[kevan]

When you're grinding there's significant metal and abrasive dust thrown into the air. Given the airflow they generate and how fine the radioactive powder is even a small nick in the capsule could end up with a lot of material in the air without you noticing it.

A jig to limit grinder motion sounds like really cheap insurance to prevent this failure mode.

[ethbro]

I'm curious if the capsules like this are standardized or one-off. The description of the tungsten plug makes it sound like the latter.

In which case a more sane procedure would probably mandate some examination of the capsule, formulation of a plan off-site, then implementation of said plan.

[a3n]

They're only a 20 something million dollar company, so everything is probably done as cheaply and simply as possible.

Like many companies, they may also have trouble hiring people.

[johntb86]

If you're using an angle grinder on something you expect some smoke to come out. You might not notice if it's slightly the wrong color.

[simonh]

It depends how heavily it was disturbed. They describe it as like talcum powder. If it's that fine, tiny particles could disperse in the air invisibly.