  The sterilization of medical devices using the gamma rays from the decay of
cobalt-60 has accumulated decades of experience of the performance of the
materials and devices that are irradiated. The use of radiation using electron
beams and x-rays has much less experience and this leads to questions of
equivalency between these three technologies. Computer simulations were
conducted to model the relevant physical processes of the interactions of each
of the three forms of radiation in order to compare the spectra of electron
energies at energies below 500 keV. It is predominantly the electrons below
this threshold that produce the sterilization dose. No difference in energy
spectra was seen between the three types of initial radiation. It is concluded
that there is no energy dependent difference between gamma, electron, and x-ray
for radiation sterilization.
