Production Scheme For Diagnostic-Therapeutic Radioisotopes By Accelerator Neutrons

Interest has been growing in the development of medical radioisotopes used for noninvasive nuclear medicine imaging of disease and cancer therapy. Especially the development of an alternative production scheme of Mo-99, the mother radioisotope of Tc-99m used for imaging, is required, because the current supply chain of the reactor product Mo-99 is fragile worldwide. We have proposed a new production scheme of Mo-99 as well as therapeutic radioisotopes, such as Cu-64 and Cu-67, using accelerator neutrons provided by the C-nat(d,n) reaction. Based on this scheme we have obtained high-quality Tc-99m, Cu-64, and Cu-67 suitable for clinical use by developing both production and separation methods of the radioisotopes. We proposed a new facility to constantly and reliably produce a wide variety of high-quality, carrier-free radioisotopes, including Mo-99, with accelerator neutrons. We report on the development of the proposed scheme and future prospects of the facility toward the domestic production of medical radioisotopes.