PRACTICAL 8 : ACADEMIC VISIT TO MALAYSIA NUCLEAR AGENCY (MNA)

a) SINAGAMA

SINAGAMA projects started in January 1989.SINAGAMA irradiation plant operates

JS10000 (IR-219),which is able to irradiate various products requiring different doses
simultaneously and is computer operated.For the SINAGAMA plant at Malaysia Nuclear
Agency (MNA) has been certified with QMS ISO 9001 and ISO 13485.The SINAGAMA is
initially designed as a facility for research and development purposes.Now the SINAGAMA
plants has offer service to public and private enterprises.

For example:

 The process of sterilization of medical products and packaging materials

 Decontamination of food,pharmaceuticals,herbs and animal feeds
 Disinfections of insects in agricultural commodities
 Samples for R&D purposes

The process of irradiation works by first placing the unirradiated product that has been pre
packed inside an alluminium box.Then,the product enters the radiation room whereby the
ionizing energy passes completely through the product to kill any microorganism that live in
the product.After the radiation process is done the product is ready to be shipped.

The SINAGAMA plant in MNA uses Cobalt-60 as it radionuclides electron because it has a
better half life compare to caesium-137 and other radionuclides.The Cobalt-60 is placed
inside a special rod which is made by powerful metal.The way they ensure that the product
has been irradiated or not is by using a special sticker which changes colour when passes
through the radiating room.The sticker is firstly green in colour,but after it passes the
radiation room the sticker changes colour from green to purple.

The staff at the SINAGAMA plants tells us the the amount of power of irradiation varies in
the type of product that needs to be irradiated.For food products,it is usually below than 10
kilogray.If more power used to irradiated the foods,it will cause effect to the taste of the
food.One of the food products that has been sent to be irradiated at SINAGAMA is the durian
paste.The durian paste is irradiated because it is needed to have a longer shelf life for
exporting uses.Radura sticker is placed on any food products to ensure a safety amount of
radiation has been irradiated to the food.
 b) ALURTRON

ALURTRON is an electron beam processing facility at Malaysia Nuclear Agency

(MNA).The ALURTRON compromise of 3 electron beam machines which are,EPS-
3000,ELV-4 and Curetron.The differences between ALURTRON and SINAGAMA are the
type of rays used.The SINAGAMA uses gamma ray while the ALURTRON uses an electron
beam ray.EPS-3000 is one of the electron beam used in ALURTRON.EPS-3000 has a
capability to generate up to 3.0MeV energy electrons.Its beam current varies from 1-30
mA.EPS-3000 is consider a very fast process as it has high efficiency and high uniformity
with good control in terms of its process.The EPS-3000 is used in R&D and commercial
irradiation for crosslinking of polymeric materials in the form of wire insulation and heat
shrinkable tubes,sterilization of cosmetic products and treatment of silicon wafers.

The ELV-4 is a low voltage electron beam machine with energy voltage varies from 0.5 -1.0
MeV.This machine is usually used for high speed wire and cable for commercial
products.The Curetron machine offers the use for R&D in surface curing and modification.Its
energy varies from 150 – 200 keV.

The ALURTRON is also computer operated just like SINAGAMA.The ALURTRON is not
used in the process of food irradiation because the electric beam ray is not suitable for food
irradiation.Based on the usage between SINAGAMA and ALURTRON,the ALURTRON is
much better because it has higher accuracy than SINAGAMA.The high accuracy of
ALURTRON is because of the ALURTRON is more focus on the job comparing to the
SINAGAMA.