Covid-19: Russia’s Nuclear Agency develops sterilisation device

Borne out of need to combat the spread of Covid-19 and keep medical personnel and patients safe, Russia’s state-owned nuclear energy corporation, ROSATOM, has developed a device for sterilizing medical instruments.

The state-run organization has already sterilised more than 24,416,893 medical masks, as well as 334,500 portable lab kits to test for COVID-19.

Unlike all other types of sterilization, this method has sufficient penetrating power, which allows it to process hermetically sealed products – the generated streams of accelerated electrons are able to penetrate the packaging of medical devices without violating its integrity, which eliminates the possibility of re-contamination of the product.

In addition, after processing the product with a stream of accelerated electrons, the product immediately becomes usable. This does not require degassing (unlike other sterilization methods) or other necessary actions, before actual use.

This method of sterilization ensures environmental friendliness – there is no side chemical and other pollution during processing.

Yulia Kurashvili, Advisor to Director General of ROSATOM’s company – JSC Rusatom Healthcare (an integrator in the field of radiation technologies in medicine and industry), comments on new challenges in the use of nuclear technologies in medicine to be expected in the nearest future.

“Medical devices are constantly evolving. Their functionality is changing, they are becoming hybrid, the technologies and materials for their manufacture are changing. And viruses evolve too. Therefore, I believe that specialists and medical sterilization technologies should always be a step ahead.”

He added : “At the end of the pandemic, the need for studies of the functional state of various organs and systems of the body of patients undergoing COVID-19 will increase. And only visualization based only on nuclear medical technologies and new radio pharmaceutical preparations will be able to provide such opportunities.”

At the moment, most medical rooms are treated with chlorine, which is a toxic substance. “Ozonation, by contrast, is a clean technology that, if used correctly, does not have adverse effects,” said the project’s supervisor Stanislav Kosarev. He added: “Using our device allows you to sterilise scrubs, etc. without thermal exposure, which will increase their lifespan.”