By: Sarah Montalbano
Medical supplies—like syringes, surgical gloves, catheters, and implants—must be sterile before they’re used to help patients. Early this year, the owner of New Jersey’s largest nuclear generating site agreed to produce a vital material for that endeavor: cobalt-60. It’s used to sterilize about 40% of all single-use medical devices, more than 16 billion per year in the U.S. Notably, it can also be used to treat cancer.