Billion-Dollar Isotopes

The Atomic Energy Commission, which is not allowed to tell much more than the time of day about the bomb-making business, likes to talk about a less glamorous product of its giant reactors--radioactive isotopes. Last week, at Rutgers University, AECommissioner Joseph Campbell reported on some new uses of radioactive isotopes in U.S. industry. Items:

> A capsule of cobalt-60 (cost: $50) will cast its X-ray beam through metal welding, will easily show up every flaw. This inspection process, too expensive with old-style X-ray machines, increases the welding safety factor, reduces the thickness of metal that need be used. Example: if all welds are inspected with CO-60, a 50 ft. "Horton sphere" for storing high-pressure gases can be built safely with 12% less steel at a saving of $6,000.

>Three hundred U.S. companies use radioisotope thickness gauges to measure the thickness of metals, rubber and plastics. The gauge works automatically as part of the manufacturing process, keeping the thickness of a material uniform. Several companies using the gauge have saved up to $100,000 a year. In the manufacture of sheet copper, a saving of only 2% would mean a national annual saving of $9,000,000.

> Antimony-I 24 is being used to aid in the separation of different kinds of petroleum moving through pipelines. When a pipeline is finished pumping one type of oil and wants to shift to another without interrupting the flow, some antimony-I 24 is put at the beginning of the new batch. The antimony's rays, detected by suitable instruments, warn the pipeline operator at the other end that it is time to switch valves. Commissioner Campbell estimates that antimony I 24, now used in most pipelines, saves $500,000 a year.

> Iodine-131 is fine for detecting leaks. Added to the water in a buried heating system, for example, it shows via Geiger counter just where the water is leaking.

In total, Commissioner Campbell estimates that radioisotopes are now saving U.S. industry $100 million per year. In ten years, he prophesies, the saving will be $1 billion annually.

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