DOE uses transportable irradiator for demonstration and testing

The U.S. Dept. of Energy's Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL), Richland, Washington (operated by Battelle Memorial Institute), has a transportable irradiator that was built to travel to various locations to demonstrate the benefits of low-dose irradiation for the processing of food. Part of a DOE program designed to establish irradiation facilities in Alaska, Florida, Hawaii, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Washington, the mobile unit can also be used for research, pilot-scale processing, operator training, and education. The irradiation unit consists of two lead-lined cylindrical chambers-an irradiation chamber and a source chamber-inside a steel casing. During operation, the item to be irradiated is placed inside the irradiation chamber, which is then rotated until a window in the chamber lines up with a screened window in the source chamber. The source chamber contains the transportation cask containing the four capsules of cesium-137 that are used as the source of gamma radiation. During operation, the lid of the cask is raised, pulling the capsules into operating position. In this alignment, the product is irradiated for a predetermined length of time. Then the lid of the cask is lowered and the irradiation chamber is rotated back to its original position for removal of the product