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Cobalt-60 (60 Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2714 years. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] : 39 It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors . Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisotopic and mononuclidic cobalt isotope 59
a cylinder of radioactive source material (caesium-137 in the Goiânia incident, but usually cobalt-60) The Goiânia accident [ɡojˈjɐniɐ] was a radioactive contamination accident that occurred on September 13, 1987, in Goiânia , Goiás , Brazil, after an unsecured radiotherapy source was stolen from an abandoned hospital site in the city.
Cobalt poisoning is intoxication caused by excessive levels of cobalt in the body. Cobalt is an essential element for health in animals in minute amounts as a component of vitamin B 12 . A deficiency of cobalt, which is very rare, is also potentially lethal, leading to pernicious anemia .
A radiation accident occurred in Samut Prakan Province, Thailand in January–February 2000. The accident happened when an insecurely stored unlicensed cobalt-60 radiation source was recovered by scrap metal collectors who, together with a scrapyard worker, subsequently dismantled the container, unknowingly exposing themselves and others nearby to ionizing radiation.
The buyers dismantled the containers, exposing themselves and others to ionizing radiation. Eighteen people, including seven children, were admitted to hospital. Ten of the adults developed acute radiation syndrome. One exposed cobalt-60 source was retrieved, but the source from the other package was still unaccounted for one year later.
The truck, now contaminated by the cobalt-60, subsequently suffered a mechanical failure upon Sotelo's return from the junkyard and remained immobile near his home in Ciudad Juárez for 40 days. [4] Meanwhile, at the junkyard, the use of electromagnets for handling the scrap caused the cobalt-60 granules to spread throughout the yard.
The cobalt would then condense and fall back to Earth with the dust and debris from the explosion, contaminating the ground. The deposited cobalt-60 would have a half-life of 5.27 years, decaying into 60 Ni and emitting two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV, hence the overall nuclear equation of the reaction is: 59 27 Co + n → 60 ...
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