Development of technology for the fabrication of 137Cs industrial gauging sources

The use of nucleonic gauging sources is observed to be increasing steadily in all the industrialised countries. Long half-life of 30 years and emission of 660 KeV monoenergetic γ-radiation make 137Cs an attractive radionuclide for nucleonic gauging. A technology was developed in Radiopharmaceuticals Division for the fabrication and regular supply of 137Cs- brachytherapy sources. The same technology could be extended for the preparation of sources for nucleonic gauges. This consists of immobilisation of 137Cs in a suitable glass matrix, conversion of the resulting 137Cs-glass in to glass spheres, loading of these spheres in to a 4 mm(φ) platinum tube and cutting of the filled platinum tube into 4 mm long sources. All the above operations can be carried out within remotely operated production plants with 100 mm thick lead shielding. (author)