Upgrading of Cobalt 60 in Temporary Pool for Dry Storage Irradiation

3. Faculté des sciences IBN TOFAIL Kenitra, Morocco

Abstract: In any irradiation facility, upgrading of cobalt 60 activity is one of the most important operations which should be done periodically to maintain the dose rate in the irradiation processing to continue achieving the objective of the facility and the decay of cobalt 60. In general, there are two kind of irradiator wet storage and dry storage of cobalt 60 in the facility. In wet are wet storage facility to upgrade cobalt 60 in general the cobalt is shipped in supplier container and transferred in the pool of the facility to the source rake of the irradiators. For dry storage upgrading of cobalt is done in supplier facility by shipping the container of cobalt, is also transport container to supplier to upgrade the activity of cobalt 60. In our Irradiation facility Station d’Ionisation de Boukhalef (SIBO).The facility is a panoramic irradiator with dry store of cobalt 60 in a container used also as transport container in the first loading. We have been faced on a problem of the transport of the container and we need to find a solution to upgrade the cobalt 60. By bringing cobalt in supplier container and transferring the new sources to our container in a temporary pool fabricated in the facility. The objective of this paper is to show a case study experience. This operation has been considered as success story in by IAEA and opened the door to similar irradiators which have the same problem in other countries. And also was a real application of nuclear security system installed in the facility and during the transport of cobalt 60.