Technical Terminology
In order to facilitate communication with our customers, we list the
technical terminology used (not exhaustive):
- IRRADIATION CHAMBER: Set consisting of the radiation source,
source and transport mechanisms, security and shielding devices.
- IRRADIATOR: Place where the Cobalt 60 source is installed,
including the source itself.
- SOURCE ACTIVITY: Amount of radioactive material in an
irradiator, expressed in Curie (C), where 1Ci = 3.7x10-10 Bq.
Becquerel (Bq) corresponds to 1 disintegration per second. During
the process of disintegration or decay, the Cobalt 60 atoms are
transformed into stable Nickel 60 atoms.
- COBALT 60: The radioactive isotope produced from Cobalt 59, with
an average life of 5.27 years.
- AVERAGE LIFE OR SEMI-LIFE TIME: Average time that half the
particles of a sample of radioactive material take to decay.
- ABSORBED DOSE: Amount of radiation absorbed by the product in
Grays, where 1Gy = 1 J (oule) per kg of product and / or 1Gy = 100
rads (old unit, where "rad" represents "radiation absorbed dose").
- ACCUMULATED DOSE: Sum of the absorbed doses (regardless of the
type of radiation exposure - continuous or discontinuous).
- DOSE MAPPING: Obtaining the dose distribution in the treatment
positions.
- ROUTINE DOSIMETRY: Placement of dosimeters in reference points,
to control the maximum dose (DMax) and minimum dose (DMin), in order
to enable "Dose Mapping".
- DOSE DISTRIBUTION UNIFORMITY: Ratio between the maximum dose and
the minimum dose absorbed by the product (which should ideally be
the closest to the unit).
- MICROBIAL LOAD: Population of viable microorganisms, in a
product and/or packaging.
- STERILIZATION SAFETY MARGIN (MSE) / "Sterility Assurance Level"
(SAL): Ratio between the total of products and the contaminated
unit. Example: SAL = 104 is 1 product contaminated in 10,000.
- D-100 VALUE: The dose in kGy (1000 Gy = 1 kGy) necessary for a
90% reduction in the number of microorganisms present in the sample.
- PRODUCT DENSITY: The weight of the package to be treated,
divided by the volume unit. The unit is expressed in gms/cm3.
- LOT: Defined quantity of bulk, intermediate or finished
products, manufactured during a defined production cycle, whose
characteristics and levels of quality are intended to be uniform.
