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Westinghouse, Nordion, and PSEG team up to produce Co‑60 in the United States
This past January, Westinghouse Electric Company, Nordion, and PSEG Nuclear formalized agreements to implement newly developed cobalt-60 production technology at Units 1 and 2 of PSEG’s Salem nuclear power plant in New Jersey, with the Co-60 to be supplied to Nordion. Through an ongoing joint initiative, the companies aim to harness U.S. pressurized water reactors to produce a key medical isotope and build the first commercial-scale Co-60 production platform in the United States.
Lawrence Ruby, Joseph Bechen
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 6 | Number 4 | October 1959 | Pages 272-278
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE59-A28843
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This system uses a large organic scintillator as a moderator for a burst of fast neutrons, many of which are subsequently captured by the hydrogen in the scintillator. The pulses produced by the 2.2-Mev capture γ-rays are observed by four photomultiplier tubes whose anodes are paralleled. The output pulses are amplified and counted by a 10-Mc scaler. The scaler is gated to count for 300 µsec after the pulse, during which interval background is very small. Statistically significant information on total neutron output may be obtained for as few as 103 neutrons per pulse, with practically no upper limit. Relative calibration of the system is simple, and absolute calibrations are stable and reproducible.