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Recently, BAPETEN found contamination of 137 Cs while testing environmental radiation monitoring equipment in an area in South Tangerang City. The area, therefore, needs to be cleaned up by performing decontamination followed by the activity of treating the contaminated soil. The decontamination works were carried out by excavating the contaminated soil on the surface to a depth of more than 1.5 m, and then the soils were put into the 100L drum. Decontamination work resulted in a significant reduction dose exposure in the area to 0.3-0.75 m Sv/h. The drums containing contaminated soil were then sent to the interim storage facility in BATAN Serpong facility for further treatment. To resolve the 137 Cs contaminant, some alternatives in the decontamination and management of the contaminated soils were studied. Some techniques and strategies for decontamination and managing 137 Cs are presented in this paper. Management that involves wet and dry methods will be proposed in this paper. By comparing and evaluating various alternative management methods, an appropriate method for treating the contaminated soil in South Tangerang City can be obtained. The objective of the study was to find a suitable management method for the contaminated soil based on the proposed alternative management methods. In the present case, the compaction method seems promising for use soon.

Indonesia has policies and strategies for the management of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel that arises from the use of nuclear research and development facilities, including three research reactors, and the use of radioisotopes in medicine and industries. The Indonesian government has provided extensive facilities such as an independent regulatory organization (BAPETEN) and a centralized radioactive waste management organization (CRWT-BATAN). Further, the presence of regulations and several international conventions guarantee the protection of the public from all risks due to handling radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel. However, the sustainability of radioactive waste management in the future faces various challenges, such as disposal issues related to not only to site selection but also financing of radioactive waste management. Likewise, the problem of transportation persists; as an archipelago country, Indonesia still struggles to manage the infrastructure required for the transport of radioactive materials. The waste from the production of the radioisotopes, especially from the production of 99Mo, requires special attention because BATAN has never handled it. Indonesia should also resolve the management of NORM from various activities. In Indonesia, the definition of radioactive waste does not include NORM. Therefore, the management of this waste needs revision and improvement on the regulations, infrastructure, and technology.

The primary cooling water system of a nuclear reactor contains Co-60 which requires treatments to avoid adverse effects on society and the environment. Experiment of Co-60 adsorption by using silica xerogel has been done. This experiment was intended to study the isothermal adsorption equilibrium and to determine thermodynamic parameters. Silica xerogel was made from rice husk ash using sol-gel method. The prepared of silica xerogel has a specific surface area of 142.034 m2/g. The adsorption experiments were carried out in a batch wise until it reaches an equilibrium state with variation of the initial concentration and temperature. The results show that Co (II) adsorption by silica xerogel following the Langmuir isotherm than Fruendlich model. Based on the experiment at three different temperatures, the maximum adsorption capacities depend on the temperature there are 25.71; 26.25; and 26.81 mg/g successively at a temperature of 30; 35; and 40 °C. The thermodynamic parameters showed that the cobalt-60 adsorption process by silica xerogel is spontaneous and endothermic with values of ΔH 117.084 kJ / mol and ΔS 35.582 kJ/K/mol. The use of the silica xerogel on the adsorption of reactor cooling water system containing Co-60 showed a decreasing of activity of the waste until 85% from the initial activity. These results indicate that the silica xerogel can be utilized as material to treat radioactive liquid waste containing Co-60.