[ RadSafe ] chemical form of industrial irradiation sources

[Doug Aitken]

Peter: I cannot reply regarding the types of sources you mention. However,
all Cs137 sources we use for sub-surface measurements in oil wells are of
Cesium chloride contained in an insoluble, ceramic matrix,
triple-encapsulated in MP-35 alloy. 

Some very old Cs137 sources had the cesium chloride encapsulated in glass
microspheres (a 3-m process, I believe). However, the danger of these
microspheres being broken (for instance, in a downhole incident where the
steel encapsulation was breached) and the (soluble) cesium chloride released
caused the US government to ban there use in downhole applications.

Regards
Doug 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Peter Bossew
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 5:12 AM
To: radsafe at radlab.nl
Cc: Marc De Cort
Subject: [ RadSafe ] chemical form of industrial irradiation sources

Dear listers:

Does anybody know in which chemical compound gamma irradiation sources 
used for material testing, medical use or food irradiation and the like, 
are usually delivered ? I am particularly interested in 137Cs, 60Co and 
192Ir in this context.
Anything known about solubility in water or eventual reactions with air ?
Are such sources being used in ceramic compounds ?

As far as I know the Cs source involved in the Goiânia accident was CsCl 
as powder.

Thanks for hints.
Peter



-- 


-----------------------------------------------------
Peter Bossew 

European Commission (EC) 
Joint Research Centre (JRC) 
Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES) 

TP 441, Via Fermi 1 
21020 Ispra (VA) 
ITALY 
  
Tel. +39 0332 78 9109 
Fax. +39 0332 78 5466 
Email: peter.bossew at jrc.it 

WWW: http://rem.jrc.cec.eu.int 
  
"The views expressed are purely those of the writer and may not in any
circumstances be regarded as stating an official position of the European
Commission."


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