James Harold Guillermo of the E-beam Irradiation Facility gives a walk-through of the E-beam irradiation process to the officials of Brgy. Sampaloc and Tanay LGU, and management of the Irradiation Solutions, Inc. which is in the process of setting-up an E-beam irradiation facility for commercial purposes in said barangay. (Photo: Joan L. Tugo, PNRI-NIDS)
DOST-PNRI’s irradiation facility serves as benchmark to Tanay dads
Local government officials of Tanay and Barangay Sampaloc of said town recently experienced first-hand how an irradiation facility works, and had all their radiation-related questions answered, in a recent educational visit to the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute’s electron beam (or E-beam) irradiation facility. Admitted in batches that strictly followed current health protocols, the LGU representatives had a walk-through of the irradiation process and learned the functions of all the equipment used.
The DOST-PNRI’s E-beam facility, operated by the Irradiation Services Section (ISS) of the Nuclear Services Division, is used for full-scale research and development and semi-commercial E-beam services. The E-beam facility has a fast irradiation delivery and is currently being used to produce high-value products from natural and synthetic polymers. It is also used in the irradiation of the PNRI-developed plant growth promoter made from seaweeds and can increase yield in rice, mungbean, and peanut from 30-45 percent.
In the medical field, E-beam irradiation is used in sterilizing medical and pharmaceuticals devices. High-end uses of the E-beam irradiation include improving the quality of automobile parts, plastics, fibers and semiconductors; better waste management; nanotechnology; and jewelry production.
The educational visit was arranged by the Irradiation Solutions Inc. (ISI), newest subsidiary of the 55-year old real estate giant, A Brown Company, Inc. The ISI is currently in the works of establishing the Tanay Multipurpose Irradiation Facility which will be constructed at Brgy. Sampaloc in Tanay, Rizal. The facility will provide irradiation services for food and non-food products.
Haydee Solomon, ISS head and EB and Gamma Irradiation Facilities manager, gave a brief presentation on nuclear technology and how it works in said facilities. Meanwhile, Arnaldo Valenzuela and James Harold Guillermo, facility operators, toured the group in batches and briefed them on how the equipment work.
ISI President Paul Francis Juat said that the visit to the E-beam facility was “a good opportunity to show how an existing irradiation facility in actual operations looks like.” Further, he said that the benefits of the irradiation technology to the medical, food, and herbal industries, and how the technology can be of help, are all showcased in the PNRI Facility.
As the country’s nuclear R&D facility, the DOST-PNRI is expected to train the future workers of the ISI irradiation facility on the different aspects of the irradiation process. Meanwhile, the Department of Health through the Food and Drug Administration - Center for Device Regulation, Radiation Health and Research will be in charge of issuing the License to Operate to E-beam facilities such as the ISI.
“The DOST-PNRI gives its full support to this new, safe, and beneficial project,” according to DOST-PNRI Director Carlo A. Arcilla, on ISI being the first commercial E-beam facility in the Philippines to offer multipurpose irradiation services. (DOST-PNRI Nuclear Information and Documentation Section)
