Question: where would a commercial quantity of cobalt-60 be produced

title: Cobalt-60
text: Cobalt - 60 , Co , is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half - life of 5.2714 years . It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors . Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisotopic and mononuclidic cobalt isotope Co . Measurable quantities are also produced as a by - product of typical nuclear power plant operation and may be detected externally when leaks occur . In the latter case ( in the absence of added cobalt ) the incidentally produced Co is largely the result of multiple stages of neutron activation of iron isotopes in the reactor 's steel structures via the creation of Co precursor . The simplest case of the latter would result from the activation of Fe . Co decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel - 60 ( Ni ) . The activated nickel nucleus emits two gamma rays with energies of 1.17 and 1.33 MeV , hence the overall nuclear equation of the reaction is Co + n → Co → Ni + e + ν + gamma rays . 

Answer: answer: It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors.  Measurable quantities are also produced as a by - product of typical nuclear power plant operation.