Introduction
A number of incidents of the reactors in 2008 and 2009 caused a shortage of 99Mo worldwide. A volcano eruption on Iceland also reminded us of the risk of relying on a small number of 99Mo production facilities in the world. The development of a new route to produce 99Mo via the 100Mo(n,2n)99Mo reaction has been carried out.
In our project, we have developed the production of medical radioisotopes (RI) for cancer diagnosis and therapy such as 99Mo/99mTc, 90Y, 64Cu, and 67Cu using fast neutrons from a cyclotron accelerator. The neutrons were obtained by irradiating 40-50 MeV deuterons to beryllium or carbon. A separation and purification method of aimed radioisotope from the target materials and radioactive impurities has also been developed. We also investigate the production of medical RI such as 211At and 95mTc by the tandem accelerator in Tokai (Japan Atomic Energy Agency). Our final goal is to build a domestic production system of medical radioisotopes using accelerator driven neutrons.
Research Overview
New 99Mo production route and separation of 99mTc from 99Mo
A new route was proposed to produce 99Mo via the 100Mo(n,2n)99Mo reaction by using neutrons obtained from an accelerator. A thermal separation of 99mTc from a MoO3 sample containing 99Mo is carried out to obtain a high quality 99mTc for medical use.
Therapeutic RI production by using accelerator neutrons
67Cu is a promising radionuclide to treat small distant metastases in radioimmunotherapy. A new route was proposed to produce 67Cu via the 68Zn(n,x)67Cu reaction. Production and separation studies of therapeutic radionuclides of 67Cu and 90Y produced by 90Zr(n,p)90Y and diagnostic radionuclide of 64Cu produced by 64Zn(n,p)64Cu are carried out for their medical use.
Development of neutron converter to produce intense accelerator neutrons
Intense neutrons will be produced via the natC(d,n) reaction by using 40 MeV, a few mA deuterons. A development of a carbon neutron converter, which can withstand the high power of the deuteron beams, is being carried out.