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How is cobalt-60 produced in a nuclear reactor?
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Cobalt-60 is produced by irradiating the stable isotope cobalt-59 with neutrons inside a nuclear reactor.12
In this process, the stable cobalt-59 atoms capture neutrons, which transforms them into the radioactive isotope cobalt-60. This method utilizes the high neutron fluxes available within nuclear reactors to generate the isotope, which has a half-life of approximately 5.27 years.123