What Is Going on with All This Radioactive Shrimp?

Summary

It’s not totally clear, but preliminary evidence suggests it’s because of industrial activity near food processing facilities rather than anything in the water or soil. Officials from Indonesia’s nuclear energy regulatory agency have traced the source of contamination to a steel manufacturer in the Cikande industrial area known as Peter Metal Technology, or PMT. Some of the highest levels of contamination detected in the area were reportedly found in the company’s furnace, which is about 1.5 miles southwest of the BMS Foods facility where the shrimp was processed. Investigators think that radioactive dust was released into the environment after PMT inadvertently smelted scrap metal containing cesium-137. “Because it’s airborne, the contamination can be carried by wind,” said Bara Khrishna Hasibuan, a senior adviser to Indonesia’s Ministry of Food Affairs, at a Sept. 30 press conference. Scrap metal was commonly used as a raw material by PMT, according to the Indonesian outlet Antara News. It’s unclear how it may have become contaminated with cesium-137. Biegalski, whose area of expertise includes nuclear forensics, told CR that the “easiest explanation” is that a medical or industrial device containing cesium-137 was inadvertently reprocessed as scrap metal. The radioactive material could have become gaseous after entering the PMT furnace and then been released from the facility’s smokestack, he said. “That whole island likely had a cesium-137 plume go over it, leaving a trail of contamination,” Biegalski said. The Indonesian government is reportedly now considering new regulations on scrap metal to reduce the risk of further contamination. The release of a radioactive plume could explain the pattern of contamination in the area, according to Biegalski. Officials have detected elevated radiation levels in at least 10 sites within a roughly 3-mile radius of PMT so far, including the BMS Foods facility, and they’re working to decontaminate the region, a process author...