September 24, 2025 | 04:14 pm
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Unit for Handling Radiation Hazard Vulnerability of Cs-137 (Cesium-137) is currently working on decontaminating radioactive materials in six locations spread across Cikande, Serang, and Banten in West Java. This cleanup is still related to the discovery of Cs-137-contaminated shrimp exported to the United States last August.
The head of the task unit, who is also the Indonesian Minister of Environment, Hanif Faisol Nurofiq, is personally leading the decontamination process and the transfer of materials contaminated with radioactive substances. The anticipated source of radiation is 700 kilograms of scrap metal stored in an iron storage area in Desa Barengkok. The hazardous goods are being transported to a temporary storage area in the Modern Industrial Area of Cikande.
"The government has formed a special team to handle this, and starting today, the decontamination process will be carried out gradually," Hanif said in a written statement on Tuesday, September 23, 2025.
In overseeing the handling of radioactive Cs-137, Hanif was accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Environment, task force members from the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten), researchers from the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), as well as representatives from the Radioactive Nuclear Biological Chemical Unit (KBRN). Members of Gegana from the Indonesian Police Mobile Brigade Corps were also involved in ensuring tight security procedures, so that the radiation does not spread through the air (airborne).
The radioactive Cs-137 contamination is being transported in covered trucks lined with lead (Pb) metal. The task force is also implementing decontamination in five other locations suspected of being contaminated with Cs-137.
For environmental recovery at the contamination source locations, Hanif admitted to considering the experts' advice to plant sunflowers. "This plant is known to have vegetative capabilities in reducing and absorbing potential radiation," he said.
Zaki Suud, a professor of nuclear science at the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), said the radiation possibly originated from users of chemical substances who did not follow proper waste handling procedures. There are also suspicions regarding foreign entities dumping nuclear waste in Indonesian territory.
"Therefore, monitoring of the potential disposal of nuclear waste and other hazardous waste from foreign countries into Indonesian territory needs to be intensified," he told Tempo on Wednesday, September 24, 2025.
He mentioned that using sunflowers for phytoremediation in contaminated areas is still theoretically reasonable. However, the radioactive nature of Cs-137 is not affected by chemical or physical processes. "It can be addressed by standard decontamination methods, similar to those used by Japan to address radiation contamination resulting from the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident," Zaki explained. However, he cautioned that this method requires substantial costs.
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