Synergy Health Brings Additional Gamma Irradiation Capacity to Europe

Synergy Health has announced that its newest gamma irradiation facility in Marcoule, France, will open for business in February. The site location is significant as it lies at the meeting point of three major European routes: east to Italy, west to Spain and north across the rest of the continent. It is also about 130 km from Marseille and the company’s existing facility, with fast transport links to France’s largest port.

The installation consists of a commercial gamma irradiator and an experimental irradiator. Both the commercial and experimental irradiators are in the same building and share some shielding walls. The commercial gamma irradiator has a maximum cobalt loading of 6 million Ci treatment per pallet (dimensions: 1 x 1.2 x 1.95 m; maximum weight: 1,000 kg), maximum capacity of approximately 100,000 pallets per year, conveyer system with slave pallets and an automatic high-bay (18 m) warehouse.

The experimental irradiator, with a maximum capacity of 1 million Ci, is in a spider-like configuration that consists of 60 turntables, which can be positioned at different distances and heights from the radioactive cobalt-60 source. The turntables make it possible to hold samples at accurate and constant dose rates, achieving uniform irradiation over relatively large physical dimensions.

This facility allows Synergy Health's microbiology laboratories to treat R&D samples, units for ISO11137 dose audits and maximum dose trails, perform studies on other high-performance materials and for material synthesis.

Synergy Health plc, +33 4 66 90 39 40, marcoule@synergyhealthplc.com, www.synergyhealthplc.com.