Indonesia begins working on Cs-137 cleanup
In August, there was much buzz about the Food and Drug Administration ordering a recall on frozen shrimp imported from Indonesia that was found to be contaminated with cesium-137. While the level of radioactivity in the shrimp was orders of magnitude below a level that would cause any measurable harm to consumers, the concentration of Cs-137 was nonetheless unusual.
Since then, the FDA has released seven subsequent recalls on shrimp associated with BMS Foods, the Indonesian importer ultimately found to be supplying the contaminated products. Recently, the FDA detected Cs-137 in a sample of cloves from another Indonesian company, Natural Java Spice, and subsequently denied it permission to enter the U.S. as well. As of now, no contaminated products are entering the U.S. consumer market, thanks to the FDA’s efforts.
The cause: Reports have been emerging out of Indonesia as to the cause of this contamination. The Indonesian government has officially cordoned off the industrial zone of Cikande, a town about 40 miles west of Jakarta, to clean up 10 sources of Cs-137. Nine individuals have been treated for radiation exposure and are all in stable condition.
The contamination culprit appears to be Peter Metal Technology (PMT), a steel manufacturer in Cikande, that uses imported scrap metal as its primary raw material. It is likely that the cesium was accidentally incorporated into PMT’s waste stream at some point and then inadvertently smelted, according to Indonesia’s Ministry for Food.
Steve Biegalski, longtime ANS member and chair of nuclear and radiological engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, explained to Nuclear NewsWire that the cesium likely would have come in the form of cesium chloride. Once in a smelter, that cesium chloride would rise above its boiling point and be emitted as a gas into the atmosphere. From there, the airborne cesium could contaminate nearby buildings simply by settling on them. PMT is about a mile from the shrimp packaging facility owned by BMS Foods.
According to Indonesian news agency Antara, Indonesian Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq said that the radiation level in Cikande reached 1,000 microsieverts, or 100 millirems. “Fifty hours in such an environment would give us our annual worker dose within the United States,” Biegalski explained. He added that, while such an environment would not present immediate health risks within a few hours, it nonetheless requires cleanup.
Addressing the issue: The Indonesian government is already hard at work cleaning up Cikande. According to Antara, that cleanup is being coordinated with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the U.S. government.
The Indonesian newspaper Kompas reported that a radiation monitoring portal has been installed in Cikande and that two of the ten affected locations have been successfully decontaminated by a special task force for radiation handling over the past two weeks.
As for the cloves recalled by the FDA, a question mark still remains. Nurofiq said that Natural Java Spice is located in another part of the country, and that preliminary testing shows normal radiation levels in clove samples. He clarified that the government will nonetheless launch a full on-site inspection to verify its initial findings.
Back to the U.S.: Biegalski emphasized the importance of remembering that “everything that has been measured in the U.S. has been at very low levels and is not of any health concern, and that the FDA has done a great job monitoring the borders.” He continued, “To our knowledge, no Cs-137 contaminated items or food products have made their way to customers in the United States.”
