The Minicell™ irradiator:: A new system for a new market

Since the commissioning of the first industrial Gamma Irradiator design, designers and operators of irradiation systems have been attempting to meet the specific production requirements and challenges presented to them. This objective has resulted in many different versions of irradiators currently in service today, all of which had original charters and many of which still perform very well within even the new requirements of this industry. Continuing changes in the marketplace have, however, placed pressures on existing designs due to a combination of changing dose requirements for sterilization, increased economic pressures from the specific industry served for both time and location and the increasing variety of product types requiring processing. Additionally, certain market areas which could never economically support a typical gamma processing facility have either not been serviced, or have forced potential gamma users to transport product long distances to one of these existing facilities. The MiniCell(TM) removes many of the traditional barriers previously accepted in the radiation processing industry for building a processing facility in a location. Its reduced size and cost have allowed many potential users to consider in-house processing and its ability to be quickly assembled allow it to meet market needs in a much more timely fashion than the previous designs. The MiniCell system can cost effectively meet many of the current market needs of reducing total cost of processing and also be flexible enough to process product in a wide range of industries effectively.