What are non-fuel cycle radioactive
materials?
Nuclear power is not the only industry which relies on the
transport of radioactive materials. Because radiation can penetrate
matter, radioactivity and radioactive materials have many uses in
medicine, agriculture, industry, mining and oil exploration, and
research. Applications include:
- Agriculture, where radioisotopes
play an important role in the growing of crops and breeding of
livestock, and large radioactive sources are used for sterilisation
in the food industry. For sterilisation purposes, products can be
irradiated after they are packaged and boxed which reduces the
chance of products becoming re-contaminated.
- Industry, where there are a
variety of uses ranging from the use of radio-isotopes in steel
plants and paper mills, to the use of radioactive materials in
consumer products such as smoke detectors and luminous
watches. In industry, sealed radioactive sources are
used in gauges that measure the unevenness of asphalt during road
paving. Sealed sources are also used in gamma radiography to check
pipe welds. The source is placed inside the pipe at point of
weld and when the source is removed from its protective shielding
by remote control, radiation will pass through the pipe and onto
special film (radiograph). Faults in the weld will be visible
on the radiograph once it is developed.
- Medicine, where radioactive
chemical tracers provide diagnostic information and radiotherapy
uses radio-isotopes in the treatment of illness. In addition,
more powerful gamma sources such as Cobalt-60 are used to sterilise
equipment and bandages. In fact, 40% of the world's medical
disposables and devices (from swabs and syringes to hip joints and
heart valves) are sterilised by Cobalt-60. This includes, bandages,
sutures and an estimated 80% of all surgeons' gloves. Certain
biological products can only be sterilised using this form of
sterilisation, notably serums and plasma, and sealed medical
devices such as those used in endoscopic procedures. Cobalt-60 is
used every day to deliver some 45,000 cancer treatments in 50
countries. The effectiveness of cobalt-60 is due to its
radioactivity - the energy it gives off. To treat cancer, a beam of
radiation can be directly aimed at a certain tumours thus
minimising exposure of normal, healthy cells. Similar to receiving
a dental x-ray, such uses do not make the individual, or material,
radioactive. These gamma sources are manufactured in very few
countries and sea transport is therefore vital to distribute them
from the manufacturers to several hundred users worldwide.
