Table 7. — Estimated capital investment requirements for a 3 Mev. , 3-kw. X-ray machine 



farvn-i-Hr. lQ^il 



facility, 1964 



Item 



Facility investment 1/ 



Per kilowatt : Total 





Dollars Dollars 



6,000 360,000 

 i 33 2,000 



: 2,667 160,000 



3 . Installation costs , including building and 





: 522,000 





1/ Investment cost estimates are based on the 3 Mev. , 60-kw. insulating core trans- 

 former, ICT-3000 electron machine. 



2/ The cost estimate includes $40,000 for building construction. Facility engineer- 

 ing and design costs are assumed to have been spread over several units and therefore 

 are not considered as a separate cost item. Rather, they are assumed to be a part of 

 the purchase price of the facility. 



Source: Estimates are from High Voltage Engineering Corporation, Burlington, Mass.; 

 $40,000 was added to their estimate of installation costs to cover building construc- 

 tion. 



The radiation-pasteurizing cost estimates for cobalt 60 facilities declined in 

 this analysis when the facility size was increased from 1 kilowatt to 3 kilowatts or 

 when the hours of annual operation were increased from 2,000 to 4,000. For the 

 3-kilowatt X-ray machine, this increase in the length of operating season decreased 

 the cost per pound by one-thirdo Accordingly, facility size and the expected hours 

 of annual operation should be considered as major economic factors when investing 

 in food irradiators. 



To realize 4,000 hours of annual operation of a facility on the basis of 2 shifts 

 a day 5 days a week would require irradiation of one or more commodities in addi- 

 tion to strawberries. Recent technical research at the University of California, 

 Davis, shows that fresh vine- ripe tomatoes can be radiation- pasteurized with good 

 results. Information on prospects for irradiation of tomatoes and the other com- 

 modities studied is summarized in appendix table 13. 



Using the 3-kilowatt facilities and an applied dosage level of 220 kilorads, 3,192 

 pounds of produce can be irradiated per hour with cobalt 60, and 3,138 pounds with 

 an X-ray machine. Expressed in terms of 12-pint cartons of strawberries, this is 

 319 cartons with cobalt 60 and 314 cartons with the X-ray machine. Hence, about 

 4 l/2 hours would be required to irradiate a 1,400 carton carload of strawberries. 

 Of course, radiation capacity can be enlarged by replicating small irradiators as 

 well as by installing larger ones. 



BENEFITS EXPECTED FROM RADIATION- PASTEURIZING FRESH 

 STRAWBERRIES AND OTHER PRODUCE 



The physical requirements for handling fresh fruits and vegetables are not 

 changed significantly by their radiation-pasteurization. Therefore, present-day 

 market handling methods would be adequate for irradiated produce. 



- 11 - 



