Tragedy Alarm from Cikande
Monday, October 6, 2025
Two Indonesian export commodities are affected by radioactive contamination. This is the result of a poor oversight of nuclear and industrial waste.
arsip tempo : 176349714378.
THE discovery of cesium-137 contamination in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate, Serang, Banten, is only the tip of the iceberg of the problems with managing nuclear waste in Indonesia. Without comprehensive improvement, there will be more incidents like this. The Cikande case proves that the government has failed to monitor radioactive substances, not only as a risk to health but also to the economy.
The radiation incident at Cikande began with a discovery by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in early August 2025. Frozen shrimps imported by Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS) were found to be contaminated by Cs-137, a radionuclide isotope known to pose various health risks. The US authorities stopped the entry of hundreds of BMS containers of frozen prawns pending the resolution of the incident.
The investigation by the Cesium-137 Radiation Task Force into the BMS production facility in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate revealed an even more worrying fact. The radionuclide contamination was traced back to the metal processing plant, Peter Metal Technology (PMT), which also operates in the same industrial area. The radioactive substance was detected in metal scraps and used iron slag imported by PMT from the Philippines.
As of Thursday, October 2, 2025, decontamination had been completed at two of the 10 locations with cesium-137 contamination in the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate. Health checks carried out on 1,562 workers and residents around the industrial area showed that at least nine people were exposed to radiation. The Environment Ministry is preparing criminal and civil lawsuits against PMT and Modern Industrial Estat, the manager of the industrial area, in relation to the incident.
Is the problem solved? Recent developments suggest otherwise. The FDA recently reported a new finding of Cs-137 contamination, this time in an Indonesian clove product. Preliminary inspections indicate the exposure of this export clove, shipped from an industrial and warehousing area in Surabaya, East Java, is also suspected to originate from imported metal scrap. As of the end of last week, the Cesium-137 Task Force had not yet completed its investigation into this latest case.
One fact is already clear that Indonesia’s radiation monitoring system has been breached. For a decade, international ports like Tanjung Priok and Tanjung Perak have been equipped with Radiation Portal Monitors (RPMs). The alarms on these devices should have sounded when containers holding dangerously contaminated goods entered or left the ports. How then could the imported iron waste with Cs-137 contamination have strolled right into industrial areas in Serang and Surabaya? And why were not the radiation-exposed frozen shrimp and cloves detected when they were exported?
The government must thoroughly investigate these incidents. And there need to be comprehensive improvements to the poor oversight of industries that are high risk because they use radionuclide materials or produce nuclear waste. The history of cesium-137 contamination in Ukraine, Brazil and Japan should serve as a warning. If the government continues to ignore dangerous radioactive substances, it is not impossible there will be a major disaster in the future.
