Task Force Ensures 22 Factories Exposed To Cs-137 Completed Contaminated

The Cs-137 Handling Task Force (Satgas) ensures that 22 factories affected by Cesium-137 (Cs-137) contamination in the Cikande area, Banten, have been fully decontaminated and declared safe.

A total of 22 factories and 13 pile-up stalls (junkyard) have completed the decontamination process following the findings of radioactive exposure sourced from the PT Peter Metal Technology (PMT) smelting facility.

Head of the Communication and Diplomacy Division of the Handling Task Force Cs-137 Bara Krishna Hasibuan emphasized that the list of companies that had circulated last week was old data and all of these facilities are now clean.

"I want to emphasize that the list of companies that left last week, all of them have actually been decontaminated. It's clean," Bara said as quoted by ANTARA, Monday, November 17.

According to him, the list of companies that left last week is an old data previously issued by the Ministry of Industry.

"So actually there is nothing new there, everything has been decontaminated. So we have declared clear and clean".

He also ensured that the facilities owned by PT Charoen Pokphand Indonesia, which had raised public concerns, were completely safe.

"I said that decontamination has also been carried out on the factory owned by PT Charoen Pokphand, so that everything they produce can be said to be clear, there is no contamination," he said.

The Cs-137 contamination started with PT Peter Metal Technology (PMT)'s smelting facility.

The source of the exposure comes from crystal metal which turns out to contain radioactive material. When the melting process takes place, radioactive material evaporation occurs which is then carried away by air (airborne).

"It is this air flow that brings these radioactive particles to various other points within the industrial area," he said, explaining.

In response, the government has installed a Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) radiation scanner at the exit of the Cikande industrial area.

"After that, we have proven that we have installed an RPM equipment at the exit of the Cikande industrial area, and it has not been detected for four weeks that a single vehicle has been contaminated," he said, explaining.

As previously reported, the Cesium-137 Handling Task Force (Cs-137) said that so far 975 tons of material has been transferred to the Cesium-137 radioactive material and is targeting the entire decontamination process to be completed by the end of November.

Deputy for Control of Pollution and Environmental Damage (PPKL) of the Ministry of Environment (KLH) Ratio Ridho Sani as Head of the Mitigation and Handling Division of the Cs-137 Handling Task Force in Jakarta, Saturday (15/11), said that efforts to mitigate and decontaminate Cesium 137 contamination in the Cikande Modern Industrial Estate, Serang Regency, Banten, will continue to be carried out intensively.

"Until now, 975 tons of material has been successfully transferred to the Cesium-137 contaminated material. The material is currently being placed in temporary storage at the PTPMT location. It is hoped that the entire decontamination process will be completed by the end of November," he said.

He said the dactina process had reached significant progress, with the Cs-137 contaminated factories having been successfully decontaminated and operating again.

Meanwhile, at the location of the Red Zone, namely in location A, C1, D, H, I have been declared safe by the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (Bapeten) and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN).

Meanwhile, the location of B, E, F, F1, is currently in the stage of collecting (cementing) with K-350 concrete and the F2 finalization point is being processed. For location C behind the PT VP Factory, preparations are being made for the restriction process.

"Containments are carried out for public safety and security, currently the location is being fenced," he said, explaining.