Indonesia’s special task force on radioactive contamination has detected traces of Caesium-137 at 22 production facilities in an industrial zone near Jakarta, officials said on Wednesday, October 8, 2025..

The discovery followed an alert in August, when a batch of shrimp exported to the United States by PT Bahari Makmur Sejahtera (BMS) tested positive for radioactive contamination.

Authorities subsequently launched extensive radiation inspections across the Modern Cikande Industrial Estate in Banten province, where BMS operates.

“The shrimp production facility (BMS) has conducted independent decontamination and has been declared safe by the nuclear agency,” Bara Hasibuan, spokesperson for the national radioactive contamination task force, said.

While the task force did not release the names of the 21 other affected factories, it said they would undergo immediate decontamination under the supervision of Indonesia’s National Nuclear Energy Agency (BAPETEN).

The Modern Cikande Industrial Estate, located about 68 kilometers away from Jakarta, spans 3,175 hectares and houses more than 270 companies, including local and foreign firms in sectors such as food processing and automotive manufacturing, according to its official website.

Caesium-137 is a dangerous radioactive isotope commonly associated with nuclear accidents such as Chernobyl and Fukushima, or fallout from nuclear weapons testing, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Indonesia, which has no nuclear power plants or weapons programs, suspects the isotope may have entered the country through imported materials.

“The government has decided to tighten restrictions on scrap metal imports, meaning that the Ministry of Environment will no longer issue recommendations for such imports,” Hasibuan said.

The task force has also designated a scrap metal factory, PT Peter Metal Technology (PMT), as an isolation facility to store contaminated materials found to contain Caesium-137.