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COMPANY NEWS
ENCAPSULATION OF Cs-137 SEALED RADIOACTIVE SOURCES: INCREASING SAFETY AND DURABILITY
“Isotope Technologies” has developed technology of additional encapsulation
of Cs-137 radioactive sources. This project was realized with of
British Closed Nuclear Centres
Programme (CNCP).
Sealed radioactive sources based on
Cs-137 are used for a wide range of medical and industrial
applications all over the world.
The design of a sealed
radioactive source generally consists of a cylindrical stainless
steel capsule with the radioactive material inside. Some sources
are manufactured with a double capsule design for safety purpose.
However some radiation accidents involving leakage of Cs-137
have taken place even with the sources of double capsule design.
This has caused serious concern to the radiation protection
authorities in a number of countries, as well as to customers.
Because of the long half-life of Cs-137 (30 y), many customers
use these sources for a longer period than the lifetime as
specified by the manufacturer. To permit this, special methodologies
based on leak tests have been developed in various countries. Using
such methodologies, the lifetime of a source can be prolonged for a
defined period (usually 1 year). However some radiation accidents
due to leaking of Cs-137 sources have taken place even with sources
of double capsule design, and these have resulted in the decommissioning
of equipment, premises and even buildings. Such accidents will clearly
become more frequent as the number of such sources grows, and this
is causing serious concern to radiation protection authorities
in a number of countries.
Moreover the increasing cost of new Cs-137
sources (up to tens of thousand EURO) and their long manufacturing
period (up to 2 years) is forcing customers to re-certify old sources
for their needs. Since for many customers, the dose rate of their
old Cs-137 sources is quite sufficient, the real issue is to
increase their leak tightness. To solve this problem “Isotope Technologies”
has developed the technology of additional encapsulation of Cs-137
radioactive sources.
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This technology allows:
- to prolong, the lifetime of a sealed Cs-137 radioactive source with an extended leaktightness warranty;
- to decrease the charge for used radioactive source disposal;
- to mimnimize the ecological duty cycle on the radioactive waste disposals.
Besides the encapsulation activity Isotope Technologies can provide the transportation,
export and import operations of radioactive materials.
specification >> [pdf, 0.1Mb]
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