Present Status of Radiation Technology in Italy

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Present Status of Radiation Technology in Italy
First Planning and Coordination Meeting -
Technical Coordination Project RER/8/010 Quality
Control Methods and procedures for Radiation
Technology Warsaw 21-25 February 2005

• P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
• fuochi_at_isof.cnr.it
• Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
  Photoreactivity
• Italian National Research Council
• Via P. Gobetti, 101 - 40129 Bologna Italy -
  www.isof.cnr.it

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Sources of ionizing radiation for radiation
processing, basic and applied research
In Italy, there are presently six 60Co
?-irradiators and eight EB accelerators devoted
to industrial uses. Beside that eight 60Co
?-cells or panoramic ?-beams together with four
EB accelerators are in research centres used for
basic and applied research.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
3
Radiation processing plants and their
activities? irradiation plants
In Italy, radiation sterilization of disposable
medical products by ? rays has been in commercial
use since the beginning of the seventies. GAMMARA
D ITALIA - Bologna
Two plants with maximum activities of 1 and 5
MCi - Como Two plants with
maximum activities of 0.5 and 1.5 MCi
Service centres for irradiation of raw materials
for cosmetic and pharmaceutical products, diets
for pathogen-free animals, plastic, metal and
glass containers and packaging in general,
patient-care items, toothpicks, powder for
mud-bath treatments, clothing for biological labs
and operating rooms, beehives with their wax
frames, culture substrate cakes for mushrooms and
to a lesser extent polymer or plastic scraps and
Teflon wastes.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
4
Radiation processing plants and their
activities? irradiation plants
Latina One plant whit maximum activity of 0.3
MCi Ascoli Piceno One plant whit maximum
activity of 2 MCi In-house facilities for
sterilization of their production of medical
devices.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
5
Radiation processing plants and their
activitiesElectron beam irradiation plants

• Grace-Cryovac - Rho (Milan)
• Two RPC low energy accelerator (ca. 1973)
• 1) Electron energy 300 keV, maximum current 300
  mA, first one to be installed in Italy,
• 2) Electron energy 800 keV, maximum current 90 mA
• On-line production of shrink film and bag
  products, non-shrink laminate products for
  protective, presentation and food packaging in
  the industrial and consumer markets.
• Bipan - Codroipo (Udine) (1990-1991)
• Electrocurtain accelerator (ESI) with electron
  energy 300 keV, maximum current 500 mA
• For production and cure of wood laminated panels
  and boards for furniture and parquet.

P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
6
Radiation processing plants and their
activitiesElectron beam irradiation plants
Metallurgica Bresciana - Dello (Brescia)
(1993-1994) RadiationDynamics 1.5 MeV Dynamitron
accelerator electron energy, 50 kW average power
for production of radiation cross-linked wires
and cables to be used in harsh environments for
civil, military and industrial applications and
for off-shore platform instrumentations.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
7
Radiation processing plants and their
activitiesElectron beam irradiation plants
Seriate (Bergamo)
Two linear accelerators 1) Scanditronix
electron energy 10 MeV, beam power 20 kW
(1995) 2) Linac Technologies electron energy 10
MeV, beam power 20 kW (near Padova)-97 For
radiation sterilization of disposable medical
products and biological laboratory supplies, cork
for bottles, packaging items (bottles, caps,
stoppers), raw materials for cosmetics and
pharmaceutical industries, semiconductors and
plastic wastes.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
8
Radiation processing plants and their
activitiesElectron beam irradiation plants

• Gambro Dasco - Medolla (Modena)
• IBA Rhodotron TT100, Electron energy 10 MeV,
  beam power 30 kW
• It came into operation at the end of 1997 as
  in-house accelerator used for sterilization of
  blood-line products manufactured in its factory.
• Megarad - Cassino (Caserta)
• ILU6 2 MeV accelerator has been delivered in
  1997.
• After a period of tests it came into operation
  and it is used for production of heat-shrinkable
  tubings.

P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
9
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
Università degli Studi di Pavia
Department of General Chemistry The
department has a home-made 60Co ?-cell with a
maximum activity of about 8 kCi (650 Ci at
Jan.2005) The group of Pavias University is
involved in the following projects with financial
support from industry a) radiation chemistry
of perfluoropolyethers, b) radiation-induced
oxidation and stabilization of polyolefins
polypropylene, polyethylene, polypropylene-polyet
hylene copolymers, c) reactions induced by
radiations in elastomer/filler composites, d) deve
lopment of polymeric micromatrices by ?
irradiation for drug delivery systems and their
radiolytic mechanism. The aim of the research is
to elucidate the radiolytic processes in polymer
materials exposed to radiation. Knowledge of the
radiolytic behaviour is needed to ascertain the
suitability and the lifetime of the materials, to
assess the possible negative effects with respect
to their use and to find useful stabilizers.
Radiation is used to modify the properties of the
materials and to generate free radicals to be
employed as probes for molecular mobility
measurement and for studies on interactions at
the polymer/filler interface.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
10
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
Department of Chemical Engineering, Processing
and Materials The department has a home-made
60Co ?-cell with actual activity of about 500
Ci This group is involved in four main
projects a) functionalization and stabilization
studies of polymeric systems for composite
materials by means of ? radiation, b) development
of polymeric micromatrices by ? radiation for
drug delivery systems, c) ? radiation-induced
polymerization and modification of polymers in
CO2 based supercritical fluids for polymer
blends, d) ? irradiation of blends of epoxy
resins and polymethylmethacrylate with rubbers.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
11
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators

• The institute is equipped with
• two Nordion 220 gamma cells with actual
  activities 700 and 1.4 kCi,
• a panoramic Nordion Gammabeam 150A with activity
  of 1.44 kCi
• a 12 MeV Vickers linear accelerator.

P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
12
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
ISOF - CNR In collaboration with other public
research institutions and industrial companies,
experimental work has been done with the aim to
develop knowledge and competence useful for the
national industries. The activity carried out
with private companies is related to irradiation
of single items and prototypes to be used for
testing and characterization or for particular
applications. Specific research activities
conducted in the Institute and connected to
industrial processes are 1) Synthesis and
characterization of hydrogels and their use for
entrapment of biologically active species like
drugs for their controlled release in the bodys
patient or bacteria used in the treatment of
contaminated water. The methodology is well
known and is based on low temperature
radiation-induced polymerization of acrylic and
methacrylic glass-forming monomers.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
13
(No Transcript)
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Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
ISOF - CNR 3) The antioxidant properties of fural
glucitol, a compound used in the cosmetic
industry as a skin protective agent against the
damage caused by sunlight have been recently
studied.
4) Radiation induced genetic mutation in Cannabis
sativa has been successfully achieved. The new
cultivar thus obtained has been patented. We are
now trying to induce mutations in Artemisia
annua, a herb from which a powerful antimalarial
drug is extracted, by ? irradiation in order to
obtain new morphological properties.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
15
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators

• ISOF - CNR
• High energy electron beams have been used to
  sterilize human bone tissues femoral heads to be
  used as biocompatible material in phrosthesis
  implants, skull fragments sterilized before their
  implants in the same patient.
• Power semiconductor devices are electron
  irradiated on semi-industrial scale in order to
  achieve modelling of their electrical parameters
  and specific adjustment of carrier lifetime.

P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
16
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
ISOF - CNR 6) ISOF Institute has supported
the activities of Laben-Proel Tecnologie, a space
RD company in Florence, for the E-beam
irradiation with the linear accelerator. E-beam
irradiation has been applied for curing thick
composites that can have a wide range of
applications, from aerospace to automotive
applications a) to look for commercially
available EB curable resins and test their
characteristics after E- beam irradiation in
order to identify those having features as closer
as possible to the end-user requirements, b) to
develop its own formulation of acrylated and
epoxy resins to be EB cured. In particular the
addition of onium salts (salts with an organic
cation and an inorganic anion) to epoxy resins
made them curable by electron beam, c) to
prepare a database including the best
polymerization conditions for each resin. The
composites cured by bulk polymerization by using
high energy E-beams were used as reference for
testing those obtained by a process, patented by
Laben-Proel, consisting in the filament winding
technique (or layer by layer polymerization) with
low energy E-beam, a process that permits to
manufacture composites without limits in
thickness.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
17
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
ISOF - CNR 7a) In collaboration with researchers
at the Department of Chemical Engineering,
Processing and Materials of the University of
Palermo PMMA-rubber blends have been obtained
through E-beam induced in situ polymerization.
The dispersion of elastomeric particles into the
bulk of thermoplastic brittle polymers is a
well-known technique to improve toughness.
Blending of elastomeric and thermoplastic
components can be performed both through physical
and chemical techniques with a lot of drawbacks
as for the final morphology of the blend. An
alternative way can be the use of ? rays or
accelerated electrons. The influence of rubber
nature (ABN, SBR and VTBNX rubbers were used),
irradiation dose and dose rate have been
investigated. Some blend formulations presented
significant increase of ductility with respect to
pure PMMA, without deep decrease of modulus,
yield stress and stress at break values. 7b) Due
to the high technological interest (many patents
on radiation curing of epoxy/photo-initiator
systems are reported) E-beam curing of
bis(4-glycidyloxyphenil)methane, as epoxy
monomer, in presence of an iodonium salt, as
photo initiator, is under study to better
understand the curing mechanism and the
influences of the processing parameters. Systems
with different concentrations of photo initiators
have been polymerized at various dose rates and
the materials thus obtained have been tested by
dynamical mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and
their structures analyzed with SEM.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
18
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
ISOF - CNR 8) Development of new dosimetry
systems (physical and chemical) and
characterization of existing dosimeters for high
dose dosimetry have been undertaken in different
conditions (a water cooled tantalum converter is
used for the generation of X rays and
irradiation of small samples can be done under
controlled temperature) and a bipolar transistor
has been tested with success as routine
dosimeter. 9) The electronic engineers of ISOF
have also developed a prototype of electrostatic
low energy electron accelerator to be used for
on- line sterilization of plastic bottles and
pasteboard packings for beverages. Its
characteristics are as follows electron energy
350 keV, beam current 10-20 mA, scanning
frequency up to 250 Hz, scan width 12 cm, beam
diameter 2.5 cm. 10) Many irradiation tests have
been done in the last five years on irradiation
modification of different types of polymer,
polymers blends and laminated fabrics, synthetic
leather in the form of films or sheets used for
garments and accessories for outdoor activities
and for car seat cushioning and interior
decorative cloth lining. The success was such
that two of these companies are shipping now
their production to E-beam plants in Switzerland
and Germany to be processed there.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
19
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators

• Casaccia Research Center (Rome)
• The centre is equipped with
• a pool-tipe ? irradiation facility of about 20
  kCi ,
• a 3 MeV S band pulsed electron linear
  accelerator with 0.2 A peak current.
• These equipments are used for radiation
  processing research on materials such as wires
  and cables, electronic components and detectors
  to be used in particular in harsh environments
  (nuclear plant, aerospace, etc.). Special
  attention has been devoted lately to develop
  scintillating glasses and wide-gap crystals and
  to study the effects of irradiation (radiation
  damage and radiation resistance) on their
  transmission properties.

P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
20
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
Tecnotessile - Prato (Florence) The institute
is equipped with a Crosslinking AB electron
accelerator with 280 keV electron energy and 1
kW beam power
Tecnotessile is a national company for services
and technological consultancy with partners both
public and private. In collaboration with the
Department of Chemistry of the Polytechnic
Institute in Milan has carried out a research
project for the development of a new process and
textile products. The process, that has been
patented, applies the preirradiation method of
grafting. In this process linen and cotton
fabrics are first irradiated and then passed
through in a solution containing glycidyl
methacrylate. The latter becomes attached to
functional groups present in the treated fabrics
all the process is done under inert atmosphere.
In this way functionalised finished fabrics are
obtained for textile production. The technique
can be applied to natural and synthetic fibres
and textiles.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
21
Applied research using 60Co ? sourcesand EB
accelerators
National Institute of Nuclear Physics -
Messina The institute is equipped with a 5 MeV
linear accelerator with peak energy of 5 MeV,
peak current of 200 mA, 1 MW peak power, pulse
repetition rate 1-300 Hz It will be used to
study several applications of radiation
processing. Furthermore, the very compact
structure of this accelerator makes it very
suitable to develop a system for in situ
industrial radiography or X-ray tomography.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council
22
Conclusions
The above overview on the status of radiation
technology in Italy is by no means exhaustive,
some applications and applied researches are kept
secret or not easily accessible to the authors.
The prospects of radiation technologies, in spite
of the great interest aroused, will depend much
upon the availability of equipments and related
technology at affordable costs, as it has been
pointed out in many IAEA Meetings. The
availability of accelerators, radiation-curable
polymer formulations, functional monomers or
oligomers will help in encouraging the
industries, that seem reluctant to adopt some
well accepted practice of radiation treatment due
to public awareness, worker protection, little or
no familiarity or knowledge of the new processes,
to overcome these drawbacks and adopt a
technology that has been proved to be efficient,
cost saving, environment friendly and has high
production rates with respect to the traditional
thermal or/and chemical processes.
P.G. FUOCHI, M. LAVALLE, U. CORDA
Institute for the Organic Synthesis and
Photoreactivity Italian National Research
Council