The PRL Cobalt-60 Irradiator: Its Use in Research and Teaching

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The PRL Cobalt-60 Ir radiator : Its uses i n Research and Teaching Department of Botany and Plant Pathology Michigan State University The history of the PFU Cobalt-60 Gamma Radiation Facility is briefly described: the original concept was developed by the Mericles i n 1960-61 as an improvement and refinement over those radiation facilities then currently in use for irradiation of higher plants. facility was probably the first one specifically designed t o permit acute and short- o r long-term chronic irradiation of numbers of living,actively growing higher organisms (especially plants) under any of a variety of rigorously controlled environments, i n conjunction witha wide range of exposure rates at essentially the same radiation energy level. are made of the source strengths and purposes of three Cobalt-60 irradiation sources presently in use on the MSU campus. Some of the unique aspects of design and operation of the PRL Cobalt-60 Facility are pointed out as they relate t o (1) the Cobalt-60 ir radiator (e.g., capsule location, Ixinoranic field, output level, portability, provisions for extra load i og and reloading, shuttertime, timing controls, i.onitoring, and special safety features) ; (2) the radiation room (e.?., attenuation s by distance and shields, safety features, and over-design); and (3) the controlled environment growth chambers (e.g., mobility, and wall modification). A summary is presented of the variety of uses to which this radiation facility has already been put, including instructional tours by visiting groups, demonstrations and experiments for courses in radiation biology and nuclear engineering, research in radiation biology and radiation chemistry, znd as a research tool in basic genetic and cyto logical studies, of the research which has been oris being conducted i n the areas of dosimetry, Examples are given of some mutation, ad biological interactions between ionizing radiation and ' . 1'