Investigations are continuing into the discovery of radioactive material at a home in Sydney’s south. Reporter Alison Xiao has the details from Arncliffe, near Sydney airport.
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00:00 Residents on this suburban Sydney street were confused and stunned yesterday morning when
00:07 they woke to a full-scale emergency operation.
00:10 Australian Border Force officials and HAZMAT crews from Fire and Rescue NSW descended on
00:15 this apartment building here on Kelsey Street in Arncliffe in Sydney's south.
00:20 They found low levels of radioactive isotopes inside an apartment unit.
00:26 Emergency operation specialists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
00:30 were called in to help and they set up a 10-metre exclusion zone around the property.
00:36 Many neighbours say they were bewildered by this situation.
00:39 Many were forced to evacuate their homes and they were allowed to return back yesterday
00:43 evening.
00:44 This is a little bit of what some neighbours had to say.
00:47 My mum was driving me to school and I just looked to my right and I would see roughly
00:52 about six to seven ambulances, ten fire trucks and like two federal police cars and men in
00:59 HAZMAT suits and other German Shepherd dogs with the police.
01:05 No idea, no one told me nothing except the fire brigade.
01:07 Well as a concerned resident then yes I would certainly like to get some more answers and
01:12 find out where it actually came from, who supplied it, why did they have it.
01:17 You know that's the scariest thing of all, knowing that it's in your back door and no
01:21 one tells you anything.
01:22 Authorities were taking this situation very seriously.
01:25 Three people were taken to hospital as a precaution and testing confirmed that there was no evidence
01:31 of exposure.
01:32 Fire and Rescue NSW say that there was testing done on the substances that were found and
01:39 they said that the material was in sealed and effective containers and that there was
01:43 no evidence of any radiation escaping.
01:47 Now a man was taken away for questioning by Australian Border Force officials and the
01:52 ABC understands that he works at Sydney Airport.
01:56 It's not yet known exactly how much radioactive material was found inside this home or what
02:01 the intended purpose was.
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