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COBALT 60 FOR NEW ZEALAND

Press Statement by the Minister for National Development,  the Honourable David Fairbairn, D.F.C., M.P.

A radioactive cobalt 60 source, with a concentration \

of radio-activity among the highest available in the world at

the present time, has been shipped by the Australian Atomic

Energy Commission to New Zealand for installation in a

teletherapy unit at Christchurch Hospital.

The source will be used in the treatment of cancer.

It consists of a stack of cobalt discs totalling about f inch

high and less than *jr inch in diameter. The active material

in the source weighs 20 grams and has an activity of 3,500

curies. The discs are doubly sealed in a stainless steel

container.

The source was prepared in the Australian Atomic

Energy Commission's nuclear reactor HIFAR (High Flux Australian

Reactor) at Lucas Heights. It is valued at Â£10,000 (020,000)

and is the third produced in Australia for export to New

Zealand. It was shipped to New Zealand in a heavily shielded

lead and steel transport container weighing two tons.

HIFAR is one of the few reactors in the vrorld capable

of producing the intensely radio-active cobalt needed for cancer

treatment. The source was irradiated for a period of almost

four years in the reactor.

CANBERRA

9th February 1966.

