The Da Nang branch of the Research and Development Center for Radiation Technology (Vinagamma Da Nang) under the Viet Nam Atomic Energy Institute has operated since early this year after 2 years of construction. This facility’s operation is expected to boost export activities and appeal for even more investment into the city.

Irradiators are controlled via a computer system

Located in Dai La Village, Hoa Son Commune, Hoa Vang District, Vinagamma Da Nang is the first of its kind in the central and Central Highlands regions.

Vinagamma Danang is now able to offer the service of irradiation treatment to pasteurise agricultural and aquacultural products for exports, and to sterilise healthcare instruments.

Noticeably, VINAGAMMA-1 Irradiator was designed and constructed by experienced experts in the operation of industrial-scale cobalt-60 irradiation facility in Viet Nam. VNAGAMMA-1 is used for the sterilization of such medical products as Petri disks, bottles, laboratory apparatus, surgical gloves, syringes, infusion lines, cottons, dressing and cosmetic products.

In a similar vein, through this irritation system, dried and frozen seafood, powder spices, fruit, and agricultural products are pasteurised.

Dr Phan Viet Cuong, the Deputy Director in charge of Vinagamma Da Nang, said, since its operation, the facility has pasteurised a total of more than 1,000 tones of food, most of which are seafood products sourced from Da Nang, Khanh Hoa, Quang Nam, Quang Ngai and other central regional localities.

He said, in the past, most businesses had to transport their goods to the southern province of Binh Duong or the northern capital city of Ha Noi for irradiation before exporting, which has cost them a lot of time and expenses.

Vinagamma Da Nang currently has a maximum processing capacity of 60 tonnes of goods per day.

For agricultural products, vegetables, aquatic products, the average daily capacity hovers at between 10 and 20 tonnes, depending on the irradiation doses and customers’ requirements. For medical equipment, the daily capacity ranges from 3 to 10m³.

Irradiation can kill most types of harmful microorganisms, thereby increasing preservation time for agricultural and aquatic products and reducing product costs.

Vinagamma Da Nang is now promoting its cooperation with the South Korea-based Dentium Co., Ltd., the developer of the ICT Vina medical equipment factory project in the Da Nang Hi-Tech Park, to conduct the sterilisation of healthcare instruments.

In the coming time, apart from implementing the irradiation of goods, Vinagamma Da Nang will focus on using radiation to disinfect water, researching into polymer modification, and producing water crystal gel and biodegradable materials.

According to Dr Hoang Anh Tuan, the Director of Viet Nam Atomic Energy Institute, which is under the Ministry of Science and Technology, the research and application of radiation technology has been deployed in the field of industrial screening, and the irradiation of seafood and agricultural products.

Viet Nam is considered to be one of the countries having the largest number of irradiation equipment in the Southeast Asia region.

The promotion of radiation applications in socio-economic aspects is an important task in line with the country’s “Strategy for peaceful uses of atomic energy up to 2020”, in which the first nuclear power plant is intended  to be introduced by 2020.