An extensive industrial complex located in the suburbs of the capital is addressing nuclear pollution after an official taskforce detected presence of the hazardous element Caesium-137 at twenty-two manufacturing plants inside the area, that encompasses businesses that export chilled seafood.
The finding has led to immediate cleanup operations and the moving of local residents, following a comparable pollution scare in the United States that was linked to the Indonesian plants.
An important multinational store chain is one of the companies that have recalled products from its stores following the finding.
Indonesian authorities initiated an investigation when the American FDA detected Caesium-137, a nuclear isotope, in a shipment of frozen breaded shrimp sent by an Indonesian firm.
Officials issued an advisory advising distributors and retailers to discard the product and avoid selling it, even though the detected amount was well under the authority's intervention threshold. It added that the quantity of Caesium-137 it had found would not pose an immediate risk to the public.
The FDA explained: “The main health effect of concern after extended, repeated small amount contact (eg through eating of polluted food or water over a period) is an elevated risk of the disease, caused by damage to DNA within living cells.”
Radioactivity tests revealed at least 22 factories in the manufacturing zone were contaminated. The official taskforce did not identify the twenty-one additional production sites, but said they would immediately undergo cleanup processes carried out by the country's nuclear authority.
A senior official declared that people residing in highly polluted zones would be relocated until the site was decontaminated, emphasizing that the well-being of the inhabitants was the “top priority”.
Medical authorities also conducted checks on local employees and residents living near the industrial estate, identifying 9 individuals who tested positive for exposure to Caesium-137. They were sent to a medical facility before being allowed to go back.
The affected sites will right away receive cleanup operations by the national nuclear agency. Officials have further selected the area of a recycled metal plant as an containment facility for contaminated materials.
The country, which has no nuclear energy facilities or weapons program, believes that Caesium-137 may have come into the nation from abroad.
A taskforce representative informed reporters that recycled metal imports were the probable source of contamination and announced the government would promptly enforce limits on scrap metal imports. It was stated that vehicles were also being checked for potential contamination as they moved through the area.
Caesium-137 is a hazardous radioactive element that typically appears in the environment as a consequence of nuclear experiments or accidents, like Fukushima or Chernobyl. Trace quantities are found in soil, products and air.
The amount found in the frozen shrimp was far lower than regulatory intervention limits, but the authority stated long-term exposure to including small amounts of the element was associated to an elevated risk of the disease.
The recalled seafood was available at large store outlets across at least a dozen US states, such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
