Not only does nuclear power serve the community with producing clean, safe, and reliable power for the United States, but the nuclear industry is continuously looking for opportunities to improve the quality of life for U.S. citizens! On Tuesday, January 19, 2010, Exelon Nuclear and GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy (GEH) announced a partnership to pilot the production of cobalt-60 which will be used in the treatment of certain cancers, the sterilization of medical devices (syringes, bandages, etc.), and for the decontamination and preservation of food and cosmetics (also known as irradiation). Clinton Power Station, located in Clinton, IL, will serve as the project’s host facility and is looking forward to providing enough cobalt-60 for approximately 300,000 cancer treatments once the pilot project is complete. This project is essential to secure future U.S. cobalt-60 supplies due to the dwindling supplies from Canada, Argentina and Russia (Exelon Nuclear).
On Friday, January, 15, 2010, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) approved a license amendment that permits the station to participate in the pilot project and the rods will be placed into the Clinton reactor during its current planned maintenance and refueling outage. The cobalt-60 production will not affect the plant’s ability to safely produce electricity and the safe production of electricity is always the industries first priority (Exelon Nuclear).
The Science Behind the Project
The cobalt-59 rods will be inserted into the Clinton reactor and will remain in place for four to six years. During this period of time, the cobalt-59 atoms will pick up an extra neutron and become cobalt-60.
The first cobalt-60 shipment from Clinton Power Station will contain only one rod and will be shipped to a GEH processing facility in 2012. “The highly secure shipments are regulated by the NRC and the Department of Homeland Security and tracked through the NRC’s National Source Tracking System” (Exelon Nuclear). Once the shipment arrives at a GEH facility, GEH will then process, transport, and sell the cobalt-60 to the medical and food sterilization industries. It is estimated that the first supply of cobalt-60 from the project will be available for commercial use in 2014 (Exelon Nuclear).
The nuclear industry is looking forward to supporting these partnerships to help save lives and better the quality of life for American citizens.
Clinton Power Station, Clinton, IL (Photo Courtesy of Exelon Nuclear)
When you talk about nuclear, what comes in mind first is the atomic bomb, a weapon of massive destruction that slaughtered the population in Hiroshima and Nagasaki or the Chernobyl accident that is associated with thousands of deaths. Rarely do people mention the medical use of nuclear power or its applications in agriculture or water desalination… And yet recent news from the tragic earthquake in Haiti remind us that “yes” nuclear power can save lives!
ReplyDeleteMuhammad Sadiq Bin Anipah
ME083602
sadiqanipah@gmail.com
i do agree very much with sadiq, nuclear is not something to be feared. if in the right way of usage, it will benifit us alot in many ways. lik in medicine, economic growth, better enviroment, a more steady supply of electricity. all this comes from nuclear. so no reason for us to be affraid.
ReplyDeleteJUSTIN PETER JOSEPH
ME083557
terbalik_just23@hotmail.com
I never thought that nuclear power also contributes in medical field. It is imperative that we harness this energy into something that useful. There is no other energy can contribute to this field except nuclear.
ReplyDeleteSyarifah Nur Hamizah Bt Syed Kasim
ME083650
ija_rc@yahoo.com