T

he National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) says it will integrate research at its nuclear reactors to apply Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) techniques to many research areas.

After 53 years, this is the first time the agency will coordinate the use of neutron activation analysis techniques, which are commonly used to study archeological artifacts, track hazardous elements and for medical research.

BATAN basic and applied research deputy chief Anhar Azar told reporters that NAA analysis would improve research in Indonesia.

“NAA, which is being developed at our reactors in Serpong, Bandung, and Yogyakarta, is still limited to thermal neutrons with slow speeds and can identify only around 30 chemical elements of a sample. BATAN is developing a system to identify up to 70 elements,” he said.

Senior BATAN researcher Mulyatun Santoso said the agency had previously been developing neutron activation analysis techniques, although implementation was managed separately at its research reactors.

“We want to integrate our reactors to apply NAA to generate more improvements,” she said.

The agency has six research reactors: three in Jakarta, and one each in Serpong, Banten; Bandung, West Java; and Yogyakarta.

Mulyatun said that BATAN would cooperate with the Environment Ministry to evaluate the air near Bandung for contaminants as part of an environmental analysis.

The institutions will also neutron activation analysis to look for contamination in air pollutants in Java in a project scheduled for completion in 2014.

“We recommend that the government use our research results to establish policies. However, it is fully up to the government whether or not to use them,” she said.

Katharina Oginawati, a professor and an environmental management technology researcher at the Bandung Institute of Technology, said that environmental pollution caused disease.

“Many home industries neglect heath and work safety,” Katharina said, citing her research showing that welders suffered from iron and methyl compound contamination.

Katharina also said she discovered traces of lead in snacks sold to children by street vendors and in samples of soybeans used make batagor.

Airborne hazardous metal contaminants were behind the rise in the number of autism patients in Indonesia, according to Katharina, citing her interim research findings.

“We have examined an autistic child in Bandung whose nails, hair and blood were contaminated with lead,” she said. (msa)