Published 1987 | Version v1
Miscellaneous

The use of radioisotopes in medicine and food processing

Creators

  • 1. Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Kanata, ON (Canada). Radiochemical Co.

Description

The former AECL Radiochemical Company (now Nordion International) markets radioisotopes produced in nuclear reactors or cyclotrons for use in research, industry, agriculture, and particularly medicine. The most important medical isotope is Co-60, used for cancer treatment and sterilizing medical disposables. Mo-99 is used as a source of Tc-99m, which is the most important diagnostic isotope, although recently rivaled by the cyclotron products Tl-201, Ga-67 and I-123 (the latter being superior to I-131 because of its shorter half-life). Food irradiation (mainly employing Co-60) is used in more than 30 countries to process some 40 items, but has made little progress in Canada and the USA due to public prejudice

Part of:
Proceedings of the 27. annual conference of the Canadian Nuclear Association

Additional details

Publishing Information

Imprint Title
Proceedings of the 27. annual conference of the Canadian Nuclear Association
Imprint Pagination
398 p.
Journal Page Range
p. 233-237.
Report number
INIS-mf--13673

Conference

Title
27. Annual conference of the Canadian Nuclear Association.
Dates
14-17 Jun 1987.
Place
Saint John, NB (Canada).

Optional Information