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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Task Force for Handling Radiation Vulnerability from Radionuclide Cesium-137 announced that it will manage and store a total of 426.8 tons of Cs-137–contaminated material found in the Cikande Industrial Area, Serang, Banten.“The material has been moved to a temporary storage site at PT Peter Metal Technology’s facility, under very strict supervision,” said Bara Krishna Hasibuan, Head of the Task Force’s Diplomacy and Communication Division, in Jakarta on Wednesday, October 29, 2025.The Head of the Nuclear Energy Research Organization at the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Syaiful Bakhri, said the waste will remain in storage until the radioactive contamination naturally decays.“Cesium-137 has a half-life of around 30 years,” he explained. “The storage and reduction process follows established procedures for handling contaminated materials.”According to Syaiful, the radioactive decay will be managed through chemical and physical methods, though the task force has yet to determine the total duration of storage.He added that the temporary storage facility at PT Peter Metal Technology has been officially licensed by the Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (BAPETEN), and the site is now closed to any public or industrial activity.Syaiful said a permanent storage location has not yet been decided, as the task force continues to assess environmental, safety, and regulatory factors in coordination with BAPETEN.Earlier, the Cesium-137 Task Force reported that 22 factories in the area were found contaminated with radioactive materials, including PT Peter Metal Technology and PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS).The task force has since confirmed that all affected facilities have completed the decontamination process.Editor’s Choice: Indonesian Gov't Urged to Rebuild Trust After Radioactive Shrimp Detection in U.S.Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
