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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.
Rene Sanchez, John Bounds, David Hayes, Travis Grove, Fredrik Tovesson
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 162 | Number 3 | July 2009 | Pages 253-260
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE162-253
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The diffusion processes of neutrons in Lucite have been investigated. The mechanisms for these processes have been described as having two steps. In the first step, the fast neutrons collide with the nuclei of Lucite, losing energy until they reach thermal energies. In the second step of the diffusion process, the thermal neutrons continue to diffuse through the Lucite without any significant loss of energy until they are finally absorbed or leak out of the system. Experiments were performed to study these two processes and to estimate the absorption cross section in Lucite. The experiments yielded an average range of 6.3 ± 0.1 cm for fast neutrons slowing down to thermal energies and a thermal absorption cross section in Lucite of 0.52 ± 0.02 b.