IAEA Activities on Cu, Re, Sc Theranostic Radionuclides and Radiopharmaceuticals.

Despite interesting properties, the use of Cu, Re and Sc theranostic radionuclides in preclinical studies and clinical trials is curtailed by their limited availability due to a lack of widely established production methods. An IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP) was initiated to identify important technical issues related to the production and quality control of these emerging radionuclides and related radiopharmaceuticals, based on the request from IAEA Member States. The international team worked on targetry, separation, quality control and radiopharmaceutical aspects of the radionuclides obtained from research reactors and cyclotrons leading to preparation of a standard recommendations for all Member States.

Pre-feasibility Study for Establishing Radioisotope and Radiopharmaceutical Production Facilities in Developing Countries.

Background: A significant number of developing countries have no facilities to produce medical radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals.

Objective: In this paper we show that access to life-saving radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals and the geographical distribution of corresponding infrastructure is highly unbalanced worldwide.

Methods: We discuss the main issues which need to be addressed in order to establish the production of radioisotopes and radiopharmaceuticals, which are especially important for developing countries as newcomers in the field.

Photonuclear production of yttrium-88 - A high energy gamma emitter for hydrocarbon extraction applications.

The use of fracing has risen over the past decade and revolutionized energy production in the US. However, there is still an impetus for further optimization of the extraction of oil and natural gas from vast shale reservoirs. In this work, we discuss photonuclear production of yttrium-88 as a promising radiotracer for fracing operations.

Sc-47 production from titanium targets using electron linacs.

In this work we have studied the feasibility of photonuclear production of (47)Sc from (48)Ti via (48)Ti(γ,p)(47)Sc reaction. Photon flux distribution for electron beams of different energies incident on tungsten converter was calculated using MCNPX radiation transport code. (47)Sc production rate dependence on electron beam energy was found and (47)Sc yields were estimated.

(47)Ca production for (47)Ca/(47)Sc generator system using electron linacs.

In this work we have studied the feasibility of photonuclear production of (47)Ca from (48)Ca for (47)Ca/(47)Sc generators. Photon flux distribution for electron beams of different energies incident on a tungsten converter was calculated using the MCNPX radiation transport code. The (47)Ca production rate dependence on electron beam energy was found and (47)Ca/(47)Sc yields were estimated for a 40MeV electron beam.