MANILA: More than 20 containers of radioactive zinc have been stranded off the Philippine coast for over a week, and a solution for their disposal is needed “fast”, a nuclear official said on Friday (Oct 31).
Traces of radioactive Caesium-137 were detected in the 23 containers in Indonesia, which “rejected and re-exported” them back to the Philippines, an official in Jakarta said on Friday.
The containers have been sitting in Manila Bay since Oct 20 as authorities wrangle with the company they say the shipment originated from.
“We need to secure an (entombment) location fast,” Philippine Nuclear Research Institute (PNRI) director Carlo Arcilla told AFP.
He described the situation as a “conundrum”, but insisted the radiation levels detected were not serious.
“This is not a national emergency. This is a solvable problem,” he said.
The contaminated zinc dust, a byproduct of steel production, was exported by Zannwann International Trading Corp after being sourced from local recycler Steel Asia, Arcilla said.
Steel Asia has temporarily suspended operations at its scrap recycling plant but slammed the PNRI’s conclusions as “baseless and unscientific” and insisted “this is not our shipment”.
It said it had been “unfairly singled out” because Zannwann sources zinc dust from multiple suppliers, and added that it tests all scrap metal for radioactivity.
Calls to Zannwann were not returned.
The containers were rejected by Indonesia last month as the country battled a scandal over radioactive contamination of several food products.
The US Food and Drug Administration imposed import restrictions after it said it had detected Caesium-137 in samples of shrimp and cloves.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/philippines-radioactive-zinc-manila-bay-indonesia-5437791
