Design, production and quality control of standard sources of 60Co produced in Tehran nuclear reactor

In this work, the design, production and quality control of standard sealed cylindrical sources of 60Co by 59Co (n,&gamma)60Co reaction in the Tehran Research Reactor (T.R.R) tray to international standard is investigated. After production of 60Co sources, quality control, inclusive leakage and pollution superficial tests were done. Then the activity of sources was measured by a large spherical ionization chamber. The results showed that the sources didnt have leakage and that the pollution superficial and the activity of produced sources in Tehran reactor exposed to 1.18×1012 cm-2 s-1of thermal neutron flux in thermal column, were comparable values of 580.6&muCi and 623.1&muCi . We confirm that 60Co standard sealed sources can be made with research nuclear reactors in Iran.