Fabrication, qualification and calibration of 60 Co sealed sources

Argentina produces about 5% of the worldwide production of 60 Co radioisotope (3,000,000 of Ci/year) whose main application is the radio sterilization of disposable medical consumables, the radiating therapy, and the food preservation for human consumption. From 1985 to the present 56,000,000 Ci were produced. At first all the generated 60 Co was exported in bulk to the sealed sources producers, but now the local production of sources has been consolidated and 100% of the 60 Co is used to manufacture sealed sources. That is a successful production of around 400 sealed sources, 70% of which have been made during the last three years. Mainly 95% of the sealed sources for industrial applications were exported to the United States, Europe, Japan and China. These countries are the main importation centers. The local and regional markets are the most important users of the sources for x-ray radiography. At present 8% of the total sources that were produced are used as x-ray sources. The present work describes the development of the sequence of manufacture of simple and double encapsulated radioactive sources, which includes the in-process inspection, the certification of the sealed sources according the designation E66646 (5,7) of the ISO 2919:1999(E) standard and a statistical quality control analysis of the penetration of the seam weld of the end caps. (author)