A significant industrial complex situated in the suburbs of the capital is dealing with nuclear pollution after a government taskforce detected presence of the dangerous isotope Caesium-137 at twenty-two manufacturing plants inside the area, that includes businesses shipping frozen marine products.
The finding has led to emergency cleanup efforts and the moving of local inhabitants, following a comparable pollution alert in the United States that was linked to the Indonesian plants.
An important multinational store chain is one of the companies that have withdrawn items from its stores after the discovery.
Indonesian authorities launched an inquiry when the American FDA identified Caesium-137, a nuclear substance, in a consignment of chilled coated shrimp exported by an Indonesian company.
The FDA released an warning advising suppliers and sellers to discard the goods and avoid selling it, although the detected amount was well under the authority's intervention limit. It added that the amount of Caesium-137 it had detected would not pose an acute hazard to consumers.
The authority explained: “The main health effect of concern following extended, repeated small amount contact (for example through eating of contaminated food or water over a period) is an increased risk of the disease, resulting from damage to DNA within living cells.”
Radioactivity tests showed at least 22 plants in the industrial area were affected. The Indonesian taskforce did not name the twenty-one other manufacturing facilities, but confirmed they would promptly undergo cleanup processes conducted by the country's atomic energy agency.
A senior official declared that people residing in strongly contaminated zones would be relocated until the site was decontaminated, adding that the safety of the residents was the “main concern”.
Medical officials additionally conducted checks on nearby workers and residents located near the industrial estate, finding 9 people who showed signs for exposure to Caesium-137. They were referred to a medical facility before being allowed to go back.
The affected locations will right away undergo cleanup procedures by the national nuclear institute. Authorities have also selected the site of a scrap metal plant as an isolation facility for polluted goods.
The country, which operates no atomic energy facilities or arms programme, suspects that Caesium-137 may have entered the country from abroad.
An official representative informed the media that recycled metal imports were the probable source of pollution and confirmed the government would immediately impose restrictions on metal waste arrivals. It was stated that transport were additionally being checked for possible exposure as they moved through the region.
Caesium-137 is a dangerous radioactive isotope that typically enters the environment as a consequence of atomic testing or incidents, such as Fukushima or Chornobyl. Trace quantities are present in earth, products and air.
The amount detected in the frozen prawns was much less than FDA action levels, but the agency explained long-term contact to even small amounts of the element was associated to an higher chance of the disease.
The withdrawn shrimp was available at large store locations across at least a 12 American states, such as Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
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