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A new technology for the production of radiopharmaceutical (90)Y microspheres in the form of spherical yttrium oxide grains obtained by sol-gel method has been described. The authors present and discuss the results of investigations performed in the development of new production technology of yttrium microspheres and determination of their physic-chemical properties. The final product has the structure of spherical yttrium oxide grains with a diameter 25-100μm, is stable and free from contaminants. Irradiation of 20mg samples of grains with diameter of 20-50μm in the thermal neutron flux of 1.7×10(14)cm(-2)s(-1) at the core of MARIA research nuclear reactor allowed to obtain microspheres labelled with the (90)Y isotope on the way of the nuclear reaction (89)Y(n, ɤ)(90)Y. Specific activity of irradiated microspheres has been determined by application of absolute triple to double coincidence ratio method (TDCR) and has been evaluated at 190MBq/mg Y. (90)Y microspheres prepared by the proposed technique can be regarded as a promising medical material for radioembolization of liver malignancies., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

A new analytical procedure for (90)Sr determination in freshly milked (90)Y from a (90)Sr/(90)Y generator is described. To a solution containing 125 mg of Sr a 200 to 400 MBq sample of (90)Y is added and strontium is separated from (90)Y using DGA column of 1 mL volume. (90)Sr is recovered in a yield close to 100% and counted in a liquid scintillation spectrometer (LSC). The separated strontium is slightly contaminated with (90)Y in the range from 7 to 19% of (90)Sr activity. The separation and counting can be completed within 30 min. The detection limit in 900 s counting time is equal to about 0.2 Bq. This corresponds to (90)Sr/(90)Y activity ratio of 10(-8) level., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)