page_title: Cobalt-60
hierarchical_section_title: Cobalt-60
caption_attribution_description: Gamma spectrum of 60Co, observed with a germanium detector. x-axis gauged to energy, designation in German.
context_page_description: Cobalt-60 is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 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 ⁵⁹
  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 the incidentally produced ⁶⁰
  Co
  is largely the result of multiple stages of neutron activation of iron isotopes in the reactor's steel structures via the creation of its ⁵⁹
  Co
  precursor. The simplest case of the latter would result from the activation of ⁵⁸
  Fe
  . ⁶⁰
  Co
  decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60. 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 ⁵⁹
  ₂₇Co
  + n → ⁶⁰
  ₂₇Co
  → ⁶⁰
  ₂₈Ni
  + e⁻ +
  ν
  ₑ + gamma rays.
context_section_description: Cobalt-60 (⁶⁰Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 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 ⁵⁹
  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 ⁶⁰
  Co
   is largely the result of multiple stages of neutron activation of iron isotopes in the reactor's steel structures via the creation of its ⁵⁹
  Co
   precursor. The simplest case of the latter would result from the activation of ⁵⁸
  Fe
  . ⁶⁰
  Co
   decays by beta decay to the stable isotope nickel-60 (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 ⁵⁹
  ₂₇Co
   + n → ⁶⁰
  ₂₇Co
   → ⁶⁰
  ₂₈Ni
   + e⁻ + 
  ν
  ₑ + gamma rays.
caption: γ-ray spectrum of cobalt-60
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