Indonesian white shrimp contaminated with radioactivity, source may have been found

Last Friday, IAEA spokesperson Fredrik Dahl stated, "Preliminary information suggests that the cesium-137 may have originated from a metal smelting facility located in the same industrial area as the Indonesian shrimp processing plant, or from other activities that dumped waste metal into the production site."

Currently, all investigations are being conducted under the supervision of the IAEA and Indonesia's nuclear regulatory agency, and the United States has not yet dispatched personnel to the site for investigation.

Indonesian exporter PT Bahari Makmur Sejati (BMS), affected by the incident, has recalled 300 containers of shrimp currently in transit, and U.S. retailers Walmart, Kroger, and several others have also recalled related products from BMS.

Officials from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated that none of the products triggering alerts or detected with cesium-137 have entered the market for sale, but prolonged exposure to low levels of cesium-137 may pose a potential threat to human health.

The FDA reported that the concentration of cesium-137 detected in BMS's frozen shrimp was 68 becquerels per kilogram, below the FDA's threshold of 1,200 becquerels per kilogram.

Nuclear medicine expert Steve Biegalski from the Georgia Institute of Technology stated that the detection of such high levels of cesium-137 in frozen shrimp is extremely rare, and the contamination may have originated from the recycling of old medical equipment containing cesium-137, which is typically used in radioactive medical devices for treating cancer and blood disorders.

"When radioactive equipment is no longer in use, it should be scientifically recycled, and if not handled properly, radioactive substances can be released into the environment. If such equipment enters a shredder, it is suddenly crushed into powder, much like spilling salt all over the kitchen when you accidentally knock over a huge salt shaker. Controlling the source of contamination is key, and it requires personnel with specialized training and experience, as well as tracking, isolation, and cleanup," said Biegalski.