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Method for production of alpha emitter 149Tb by irradiation of 151Eu with 70 MeV 3He nuclei is proposed. For the first time, the cross sections for the formation of isotopes 149,150,151,152Tb were measured experimentally using a stack foil technique in the 3He particles energy range 70 → 12 MeV. The thick target yield of 149Tb is 39 MBq/μAh, or 230 MBq/μA 149Tb at saturation. The optimal energy range from the point of view of radioisotopic purity is 70 → 40 MeV. At these conditions about 150 MBq/μA 149Tb can be produced in 8 hours irradiation, which is sufficient for therapeutic applications. The main impurities are 150Tb (~100% in activity) and 151Tb (~30% in activity). The proposed method surpasses its counterparts by the high content of the target isotope in the natural mixture and the simplicity of the radiochemical separation of 149Tb from the bulk target material.

The irradiations of Ag to Sn targets by bremsstrahlung generated with 23-MeV electron beams are performed at the MT-25 microtron. Gamma spectra of the induced activities have been measured and the yields of all detected radionuclides and isomers are carefully measured and analyzed. A regular dependence of yields versus changed reaction threshold is confirmed. Many isomers are detected and the suppression of the production probability is observed with growing product spin. Special peculiarities for the isomer-to-ground state ratios were deduced for the 106mAg, 108mAg, 113mIn, 115mIn, and 123mSn isomers. The production of such nuclides as 108mAg, 115mIn, 117gIn, and 113mCd is of interest for applications, especially when economic methods are available.

The radionuclides (88)Zr and (89)Zr have been produced by cyclotron irradiation of (nat)SrO with 35 MeV α-particles at a beam current of 15 μA. The thick source production yield of (89)Zr is ~3.1 MBq μA(-1) h(-1). A two-step radiochemical purification utilising anion-exchange chromatography in hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids has been developed to separate (88,89)Zr from the target material, natural strontium, the target substrate, aluminium, and long-lived (88)Y.

Previously reported preparation method for Pd-based intermetallic targets (Usoltsev, et al., 2012) [1] has been successfully applied for producing two stationary 243Am/Pd targets. Both targets have been irradiated at the U-400 cyclotron at Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions Dubna (Russian Federation) using high intensity beams (up to 0.83 μApart) of 48Ca18+. Alpha-particle spectroscopy and light microscopy allowed for a comprehensive characterization of the intermetallic targets before and after irradiation. A natNd/Pd intermetallic target and a solely electroplated 243Am/Ti target were similarly investigated for comparison.

A method to produce (117m)Sn radionuclide using accelerator production route is described. A new method is proposed to separate the (117m)Sn. Specific activities and thick target yield for (116)Cd(α,3n)(117m)Sn reaction at E(α)=35MeV bombarding energy were determined. The estimated production yield of (117m)Sn was 37.5kBq/μAh for 13.16 mg/cm(2) natural cadmium-oxide target and 410 kBq/μAh for 11.07 mg/cm(2) highly enriched (95%) (116)CdO target. The method developed for separation of (117m)Sn from Cd using anion-exchange resin (Dowex -1×8, fluorine form, 400 mesh) can achieve 98% radiochemical yield of (117m)Sn with more than 99% radionuclidic purity. The estimated specific activity is 2.4 GBq/mg that can be reached with the used irradiation conditions.

Among radioactive isotopes of rare-earth elements (REEs) finding increasing application in nuclear medicine, α-emitting 149Tb (T1/2 = 4.118 h; EC 76.2%; β+ 7.1%; α 16.7%) shows promise for radioimmumotherapy. Formation of 149Tb in nuclear reactions Nd(12C, xn)149Dy(4.23 min; β+, EC) → 149Tb performed by irradiation of a Nd target with carbon ions was experimentally studied. As estimated from the experimental data on 149Dy formation and its decay into 149Tb, the 149Tb yield under the best conditions (142Nd-enriched target, 12C ions with the energy of up to 120 MeV and current of up to 100 μA, irradiation time 8-10 h) can be as high as 30 GBq (0.8 Ci).

/sup 123/I is produced with the use of protons, deuterons, and ..cap alpha.. particles with energies from several tens to hundreds of megaelectron volts and electrons with energy approx. 50 MeV. A great deal of attention is devoted to the radionuclide purity of the preparation. As a rule, in the course of the irradiation, because of the many open reaction channels extraneous ..gamma.. and ..beta.. active products, whose contribution increases significantly as the energy of the beam increases, are formed in the target material. This substantially complicates the problem of separating the isotope /sup 123/I and imposes stringent requirements on the isotopic purity of the starting target. These difficulties can be avoided to a certain extent if /sup 123/I is obtained by means of the reaction /sup 124/Xe(..gamma.., n)/sup 123/Xe on a 22-25-MeV electron beam followed by decay of the nuclei /sup 123/Xe(T/sub 1/2 = 2.08 h) into the product sought /sup 123/I. The source of ..gamma.. rays in this case are intense beams of 25 MeV electrons, which can be obtained in compact and reliable setups (microtrons or small linear accelerators). The setup for the production of the isotope /sup 123/I on the MT-22 microtron is described and themore » results of an experiment for an accelerated electron energy of 21.5 MeV are presented« less