What radioactive waste is generated? Is waste storage or transport a problem?
Cobalt 60 is manufactured in a commercial nuclear reactor, by exposing non-radioactive cobalt to intense radiation in the reactor core. Cesium 137 is a by-product of the manufacture of weapons-grade radioactive substances. Thus the supply of these two substances, like that of other radioactive materials used in medicine, science and industry, is dependent on the nuclear industry. The food irradiation facilities themselves do not become radioactive, and do not create radioactive waste. The cobalt sources used in irradiation facilities decay by 50% in five years, and therefore require periodic replacement. The small radioactive cobalt “pencils” are shipped back to the original nuclear reactor, where they can be recharged for further use. The shipment occurs in special hardened steel canisters that have been designed and tested to survive crashes without breaking. Cobalt is a solid metal, and even if somehow something should break, it will not spread through the environment. Cobalt 60 may
