About Us
Loures Pole of IST
The Unidade Tecnológica de Radioesterilização (UTR) (Technological Unit for Radiosterilization) is located in Bobadela, municipality of Loures, district of Lisbon. The UTR is a semi-industrial unit belonging to the Laboratório de Aceleradores e Technologias de Radiação (LATR) (Laboratory of Accelerators and Radiation Technologies) of the Tecnológico e Nuclear Campus (CTN), Loures Pole of the Instituto Superior Técnico.
CTN is one of the most important places in the country where activities are carried out in the fields of nuclear sciences and technologies, and ionizing radiation. Equipped with unique infrastructures and equipment, LATR offers a set of unique services in Portugal, namely:
| Irradiation Services: UTR | I&D Services: ACCELERATORS |
|---|---|
| Sterilization | Non-destructive analytical processing techniques and characterization of materials |
| Decontamination | Irradiation with particle beams and gamma radiation |
| Disinfestation/disinfection | Ionic implantation |
| Conservation | Cultural heritage studies |
Brief History of UTR
This Unit started its industrial operation in November 1988, with the Cobalt-60 planar irradiator having an initial activity of 1.1 x 1016 Bq (295 kCi).
Since 1994, the UTR has undergone major improvements, in order to guarantee greater security and profitable operation, within the scope of the project "Atualização dos Sistemas Operacionais e de Segurança da Unidade de Radioterapia e Tecnologia" (Update of the Operating and Security Systems of the Radiotherapy and Technology Unit). In December 2003, the Cobalt-60 irradiator was refilled. Eighteen new sources were placed and the oldest (156) redistributed. The result was an irradiator with 10.2 PBq of total activity.
Today, it provides irradiation services to the industry and has an of ≃120 kCi.
Lifetime
