Pallet irradiators: circumstances under which this type of system is appropriate

Several pallet irradiator systems have been designed and installed in the past few years. These systems are of considerably different design and application. Systems which use full size pallets have been designed for both food and medical disposables. Designs utilizing Europallets have also been installed for specific applications. The basic advantage of these systems is the ability to handle the product in its final shipping configuration, therefore, reducing labour and cost to process. This, weighed against the radiation performance of this type of facility, has in several instances shown advantages over other designs. Several designs will be discussed to describe advantages of using pallet irradiator designs. (author)