Nuclide reference

Co-60m — Cobalt-60m

The half-life of Co-60m is 10.467 min. Main decay mode: isomeric transition to Co-60 (99.76%).

Identification

Element
Cobalt (Co)
Atomic number Z
27
Mass number A
60
State
Radioactive

Key quantities

Half-life
10.467 min
Specific activity
1.108e+19 Bq/g
Gamma constant Γ
—
D-value (НП-067-24)
—

Decay modes

  • isomeric transition → Co-60 — 99.76 %
  • β⁻ decay → Ni-60 — 0.24 %

Main gamma lines

Energy, keVYield, %
6.93 · X-ray line17.97
6.914 · X-ray line9.162
58.6032.067
1,332.50.24
826.280.00768
2,158.770.00072

Lines of the bare nuclide (ENDF/B-VIII.0), without daughter ingrowth.

Alpha and beta particles

RadiationEnergy, keVYield, %
β⁻, E max1,549.70.2299

For β⁻ the endpoint (maximum) energy of the spectrum is given. ENDF/B-VIII.0.

Related calculators

Reference data vs computed valuesHalf-life, gamma lines and D-value are reference data (ENDF/B-VIII.0, НП-067-24).Gamma constant Γ is H*(10) at 1 m computed from ICRP-107 spectra (NIST µ_en/ρ, ICRP-74 Table A.21) including short-lived progeny in equilibrium (e.g. Cs-137/Ba-137m, Ra-226 series); specific activity uses molar mass M ≈ mass number A.K-series X-ray energies are from NIST SRD 128 (Deslattes et al., 2003): in ENDF/B-VIII.0 they are given to 1 % and shifted by up to 0.7 keV for heavy elements. L-series lines and all yields are ENDF/B-VIII.0.

Cobalt-60m (Co-60m) — reference data

What is in the card

This card gathers the key data of radionuclide Co-60m in one place: half-life, decay modes, main gamma lines, alpha and beta particle energies, gamma constant, specific activity and the D-value for source categorization. Decay and emission data are from ENDF/B-VIII.0; the D-value follows NP-067-24; the gamma constant is the ambient dose equivalent H*(10) at 1 m, computed from ICRP-107 spectra.

How to use the data

Half-life and specific activity let you recalculate the activity of a Co-60m source to the delivery or disposal date — use the decay calculator. Gamma lines with yields identify the nuclide from a spectrum and pick the line for gamma spectrometry; the gamma constant Γ gives the dose rate at a distance, while the D-value and A1/A2 set the source category and the package type for transport.