The Clinton nuclear power plant in the USA will begin producing cobalt-60 for medical and industrial use, according to plant owner Exelon and GE-Hitachi.
Without specifying details of time or technology, GE-Hitachi announced that its equipment is soon to be installed at the Clinton boiling water reactor in order to produce cobalt-60. The radioactive isotope is used for a variety of medical and industrial purposes including cancer therapy, sterilisation of medical equipment, food irradiation and materials testing.
It is produced by inserting a 'target' rod rich in non-radioactive cobalt-59 into a reactor core where free neutrons will be captured, turning cobalt-59 into cobalt-60. After retrieval from the core, chemical processing can extract the cobalt-60 for manufacture into a useful radiation source.
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