126 Detectors Will Be Installed to Monitor Nuclear Radiation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Nuclear Energy Regulatory Agency (Bapeten) will install 126 nuclear Radiation Data Monitoring System (RDMS) detectors. The detectors will be installed at all Meteorological, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stations throughout Indonesia to improve the detection and monitoring of nuclear radiation in the environment.

"We have plans to install 126 RDMS nuclear detectors at BMKG stations. There have been 15 RDMS installed last year, so there will be 20 to 22 installed this year," said Chief of Bapeten Jazi Eko Istiyanto at a press conference at the Ministry of Research and Technology, Jakarta, on Tuesday, February 18, 2020.

Bapeten will also frequently deploy inspectors into the field carrying mobile radiation detectors on backpacks to reach other areas in Indonesia. This deployment is carried out to monitor the potential of radiation in the environment in order to maintain public safety.

"So it is not only the Serpong area that is being monitored but also other places to find out whether there is (radiation) elsewhere or not," he said.

Bapeten will also install Radiation Portal Monitor (RPM) to inspect the exit and entry of potential illegal and dangerous radioactive goods into or out of the country.

RPM is a radiation monitor portal that is installed to automatically monitor the sources of gamma and/or neutron radiation for goods, people and vehicles that pass through the detection area.

At present, out of Indonesia’s 172 ports, only seven RPMs have been installed in a handful of ports in Indonesia, such as Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Batu Ampar Port in Batam, and Bitung Port in North Sulawesi.

Increased radiation monitoring in the environment is needed to maintain the security and safety of the public from the dangers of radioactive material.

This decision to increase monitoring of nuclear radiation was taken after Bapeten discovered radiation exposure from the Cesium 137 radioactive material in a vacant plot next to a volleyball court in block J of the Batan Indah Housing Complex, Serpong, South Tangerang, Banten Province.

The radiation exposure was detected by the mobile environmental radioactivity monitoring unit (mobile RDMS-MONA) when Bapeten was monitoring environmental radioactivity in the Batan Indah Housing Complex.

From January 30 to 31, 2020, Bapeten detected radioactivity in the Jabodetabek area, specifically in Pamulang, the Puspiptek Department Housing, the Muncul Region and ITI Campus, Batan Indah Housing Complex, and the Serpong Train Station.

It was found there was a value of nuclear radiation exposure with a measured rate of exposure significantly above the normal value in the vacant lot.

ANTARA | DIO SUHENDA (INTERN TRANSLATOR)