Stakeholders Involvement in Strengthening
the Capability of Radiation Processing
Facilities
Ahsanulkhaliqin, Chai Chee Keong, Ruzalina Baharin & Hazmimi Kasim
Malaysian Nuclear Agency
RSH 102 Feb 2022

CONTENTS• Introduction• Radiation Processing Facilities at Nuclear Malaysia• Roles of Stakeholders• Case Study 1: Public-Private Partnership• Case Study 2: Business Continuity Management System Certification• Way Forward

INTRODUCTION• Radiation processing facility plays an important roles inindustry.
• As part of the process chain either as feeder, intermediate orend-products• Malaysia has 10 radiation processing facilities (6 gamma and 4EB)
• Full support from government – implies acts, regulations,standards

MINTec-SINAGAMA• Has been operating since year 1990.
• MINTec-Sinagama located in Nuclear
Technology Park Malaysia.
• 2 km from the main complex and 30 km fromKuala Lumpur.
• Using cobalt-60 source of gamma radiation• Ability to perform the irradiation withdifferent doses of radiation at one time(incremental dose).
• Certified with ISO 9001 and ISO 13485, also
registered with MOH as a Food Irradiation
Premise.

MINTec-SINAGAMA• Provides gamma irradiation services for medical products like bone allograft,preserved amnion, catheter, gloves, also raw material of pharmaceutical products,food products and other product like, fertilizer, corn cobs & mouse pallets (animalfeed), baby toys, capsule for pharmaceuticals product and raw materials forcosmetics.
• Customers varies from manufacturers, third-party industry, SME, researchers(inside or outside NM) etc.

MINTec-SINAGAMAALURTRON• Has been operating since year
1992.
• Located in Nuclear TechnologyPark Malaysia.
• 2 km from the main complex
and 30 km from Kuala Lumpur.
• Using electron beam machine
to produce radiation.
• Certified with ISO 9001.

ALURTRON• Currently providing EB radiation services to manufacturer of:• Wire, cable and tube products for crosslinking effects• Semiconductors for enhancing the electronics property• Product development of wound care dressing product• R&D• Customers varies from manufacturers, third-party industry, SME, researchers(inside or outside NM) etc.

ALURTRONRAYMINTEX• A pilot plant for research, preparation andcommercialization of radiation vulcanizationof natural rubber latex (RVNRL)• Commissioned in 1996
• Equipped with latex storage, testing,processing and gamma irradiation facilities

RAYMINTEX

Schematic diagramand facilities for
preparation ofRVNRL inRAYMINTEX Plant

ROLES OF STAKEHOLDERS
The word “stakeholder” was first appeared in a 1963 internal
memorandum at the Standford Research Institute and of which wasdefined as “a member of groups without whose support theorganization would cease to exist”.
Guidance on social responsibility ISO 26000:2010 defines stakeholder
as “individual or group that has an interest in any decision or activity ofan organization”.

12Source : Final Report on National Nuclear Technology Policy, ASM & Nuklear Malaysia, 2021

CASE STUDY 1 - Private-Public Partnership- MINT-Sinagama’s issue- Cost of cobalt replenishment- Marketing of services- Maintenance; preventive & corrective (cost and response time)- Labour/staff

MINTec-Sinagama – Public partner• MINTec-Sinagama contributions:• Gamma irradiator• Building• Operations of gamma irradiator including security & safety issues• Public partner contributions:• Cobalt replenishment• Maintenance; preventive & corrective• Labour• Marketing
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MINTec-Sinagama – Public partner
MINTec-Sinagama Customer Satisfaction Studies• Customer satisfaction studies

95.0

90.0

• Cobalt replenishment

85.0• Cobalt was repelenish 3 times
80.0• Service disruptions• Availability of service is at average of 90-95%;

75.0

70.0

• Plant shutdown

2014

2015

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

• Plan shutdown: 7 days a year
• Un-plan shutdown: 1-2% due to product shortage
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CASE STUDY 2 – Business Continuity
Management System (BCMS) Certification• Nuclear Malaysia is among the local pioneers to develop and implement
BCMS.
• Project started in 2016, certified to ISO 22301:2012 BCMS by CyberSecurity
Malaysia in January 2019.
• Aimed to protect against, reduce the likelihood of occurrence, prepare for,respond to, and recover from disruptive incidents when they arise, i.e. toensure business continuity.
• Scope of BCMS covers 5 facilities in Nukcear Malaysia including radiation
processing facilities, i.e. MINTec-SINAGAMA and RAYMINTEX.

• One of the main requirements of BCMS is the establishment of business
continuity plan for each of the facilities, which includes organizing analternative work area recovery site, i.e. an alternative site to enable
recovery and operation during a prolonged service disruption.
• MINTec-SINAGAMA is the alternative site to RAYMINTEX Plant for theRVNRL irradiation process in the event of gamma irradiator malfunction.
• RAYMINTEX Plant has been experiencing interruption in its RVNRL
preparation service since year 2015 due to recurrent malfunction on thecontrol panel of the gamma irradiator.

Receive order andraw latex fromcustomer

Quality control on
raw latexLatex formulation(pre-irradiation)

Latex irradiation

RVNRL delivery tocustomer

Quality control on
RVNRL

Latex formulation(post-irradiation)

Quality control and latex formulation doneat RAYMINTEX Plant

Gamma irradiation
process done atalternative site
MINTec-SINAGAMA• RAYMINTEX Plant continues to provide RVNRL preparation
service despite of the malfunction control panel, which makepossible by the support from MINTec-Sinagama as a
stakeholder (alternative site).
• RAYMINTEX Plant started to upgrade its control system in2017. Its business continues as usual with theimplementation of BCMS.

Way Forward• Involvement of stakeholders in strengthening the capability of radiation
processing facilities are proven to be crucial and effective.
• The approach adopted by MINTec-Sinagama, i.e. involvement of private partner
in human resource, marketing and maintenance of the irradiation facilities has
produced positive outcomes to both parties.
• The involvement of regulators that beyond enforcement is very much needed ofwhich they should also act as advisor and facilitator to the industry.
• Stakeholders’ involvement should be made as a principle of an organization byincorporating it in organization policy so that both top management andemployee will commit and contribute to its success.
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AHSANULKHALIQIN ABDUL WAHABTechnical Support Division
Tel: 03-89112000 ext 1652
Email: ahsanul@nm.gov.my