Have there been a number of nuclear bomb tests or nuclear reactor accidents in Indonesia? From what I’m reading Cesium 137 is a byproduct of nuclear fission. Any scientists available to confirm?
Right in the article.
Some places are not careful about how they dispose of their medical waste. There was a case in, I think Russia, where they had dump a machine and the radioactive powder was found and used for various things. Several people got quite ill.
Lots of food is irradiated as part of the processing. Seafood, shellfish, spices, vegetables. Hospitals have irradiators for fresh blood to zap it before transfusions.
Cesium 137 is commonly used, it lasts longer than Cobalt-60. One issue with it is it is produced as cesium chloride, which i soluble. What probably happened here is that a food irradiator developed a small leak and Cs-Cl got out into the processing line.
The world got dosed with Cs137 when Chernobyl melted, but it is spread very thinly.