Government Saves 426.8 Tons Of Cs-137 Contaminated Waste

Head of the Public Communication and Diplomacy Division of the Cs-137 Bara Hasibuan Task Force during a press conference at the Office of the Coordinating Ministry for Food, Jakarta. (Photo: Mery Handayani/VOI)

The Cesium-137 Handling Task Force (Cs-137) has collected 426.8 tons of material contaminated with radioactive substances Cs-137 in the Cikande industrial area, Serang, Banten. The material is now stored in temporary storage.

Head of the Division of Diplomacy and Public Communication of the Cs-137 Task Force Bara Hasibuan said the entire waste transfer process was safe and in accordance with procedures.

"A total of 426.8 tons of contaminated material has been transferred to temporary storage, namely at the PT Peter Metal Technology factory with very strict supervision, as a step to prevent and localize the spread of contamination," he said at a press conference at the Coordinating Ministry for Food Affairs Office, Jakarta, Wednesday, October 29.

Bara also said that 22 factories that had been exposed to radioactive substances in the Cikande industrial area, Banten, were now completely clean. Including, PT Bahari Makmur Sejahtera (BMS).

Previously we said there were a total of 22 contaminated factories. Of the 22 including the PT Peter Metal Technology and the PT BMS shrimp processing facility, yes, it was 100 percent, in 22 it was finished, the total decontaminated has been completed, and clear and clean," he said.

In addition, Bara revealed that the dcontamination was also carried out on 13 junkyards or junk bins of ex-production materials that were exposed. Of the total, five of them have finished undergoing decontamination while the other 8 are still in process.

"We have transferred the contaminated material to be transferred to the interim storage facility owned by PT Peter Metal, the factory that used its PT Peter Metal factory is clear. Now, the remaining 8 are still being decontaminated, indeed this is time consuming because we have to be careful," he said.

Meanwhile, Deputy for Nuclear Safety Studies of the Nuclear Energy Supervisory Agency (Bapeten) Haendra Subekti said that some of the locations that have been cleaned can now be used for normal activities.

Even so, Haendra said that decontamination waste cannot be abolished.

If there are some that have been cleared at the location, normal activities can already be used. Of course, the contaminant material is brought to the factory (PT Peter Metal), it must be stored for a long time. That's what you have to do, you can't clean it because it has to be stored," he said.

Similarly, the Head of the Nuclear Energy Research Organization of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) Syaiful Bakhri said Cs-137 had about 30 years of natural decay time.

"We will save this waste until it becomes a complete activity. We have a Cesium 137, this is 30 years. 30.17 years old, the activity is only half. And we will save it until it is chaotic," said Syaiful.

However, Syaiful admitted that he could not confirm whether the waste collected would be locked in former PT Peter Metal factory for a full 30 years.

Lebih lanjut, Syaiful bilang, lokasi PT Peter Metal saat ini masih berstatus interim shelter atau tempat penampungan sementara yang belum ditetapkan sebagai lokasi penyimpanan permanen.

“Limbah yang ada di situ nanti kita akan pikirkan lebih lanjut, jadi ada yang namanya interim storage itu juga sudah direncanakan oleh Satgas. Jadi akan kita tempatkan sampai dengan waktu tertentu sekaligus diolah, dikurangi volumenya,” tutur Syaiful.

Furthermore, Syaiful said, the location of PT Peter Metal is currently still an interim shelter or temporary shelter that has not been designated as a permanent storage location.

"The waste that is there later we will think further, so there is something called interim storage that has also been planned by the Task Force. So we will place it for a certain time at once to be processed, minus the volume," said Syaiful.