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The Electromagnetic Isotopes Separator (EMIS) installed in Karaj, has the capability to separate isotopes in a wide range of elements. Zirconium is successfully separated using this method for the first time in Iran. Zirconium element has five stable isotopes, 90Zr, 91Zr, 92Zr, 94Zr, and 96Zr, and the natural abundance of 90Zr is 51.45%. The 90Zr isotope is used to produce radioisotope 90Nb via 90Zr(p, n) 90Nb that has a high potential for antibody labeling application in PET as a radionuclide. Copper pockets and graphite front plate were designed and fabricated for separating and collecting of Zr isotopes. After choosing the appropriate composition for the initial material, the electrical parameters of the ion source and electromagnet were determined. The mass spectra of Zirconium isotopes were recorded. Deposited 90Zr isotopes were first extracted from the copper pocket and then purified by electrodeposition and purification methods. The formation of 90ZrO2 was confirmed by X-ray diffraction (XRD). Chemical purity and isotope purification of 90Zr isotope were 99.22% and 99.85%, which measured by TIMS and PIXE method analysis, respectively.

The β−-particle-emitting erbium-169 is a potential radionuclide toward therapy of metastasized cancer diseases. It can be produced in nuclear research reactors, irradiating isotopically-enriched 168Er2O3. This path, however, is not suitable for receptor-targeted radionuclide therapy, where high specific molar activities are required. In this study, an electromagnetic isotope separation technique was applied after neutron irradiation to boost the specific activity by separating 169Er from 168Er targets. The separation efficiency increased up to 0.5% using resonant laser ionization. A subsequent chemical purification process was developed as well as activity standardization of the radionuclidically pure 169Er. The quality of the 169Er product permitted radiolabeling and pre-clinical studies. A preliminary in vitro experiment was accomplished, using a 169Er-PSMA-617, to show the potential of 169Er to reduce tumor cell viability.

A demo experiment was performed at the tandem accelerator of MLL Garching where 152Tb was produced by irradiating a unique ion-implanted 152Gd target (> 99% enriched) with 8 and 12 MeV protons respectively. At these energies mainly 152Tb was produced by (p,n) reactions plus a small quantity of 153Tb by (p, γ) reactions. Upper limits are derived for co-production of other Tb isotopes. The achieved radionuclidic purity would enable direct use for human applications. Gd isotopes of adequate isotopic enrichment could be separated with the SIDONIE mass separator at CSNSM Orsay and prepared as cyclotron targets suited for high current irradiations. In a demo experiment samples of highly enriched 158Gd were produced at SIDONIE. The sample purity was characterized by prompt gamma activation analysis at NPI Řež. The neighboring mass 157Gd was found to be suppressed by three to five orders of magnitude, depending on the sample position in the SIDONIE separator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The numerical model of a thermoemission ion source was used for source ionization efficiency calculations. The dependency of ionization efficiency on working parameters like ionizer length and extraction voltage was discussed, and a good agreement with theoretical predictions was achieved. It was shown that increasing the ionizer length does not significantly change the obtained ionization efficiency. Extraction voltages up to a few thousand of volts are sufficient to obtain reasonable efficiency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The β - -particle-emitting erbium-169 is a potential radionuclide toward therapy of metastasized cancer diseases. It can be produced in nuclear research reactors, irradiating isotopically-enriched 168 Er 2 O 3 . This path, however, is not suitable for receptor-targeted radionuclide therapy, where high specific molar activities are required. In this study, an electromagnetic isotope separation technique was applied after neutron irradiation to boost the specific activity by separating 169 Er from 168 Er targets. The separation efficiency increased up to 0.5% using resonant laser ionization. A subsequent chemical purification process was developed as well as activity standardization of the radionuclidically pure 169 Er. The quality of the 169 Er product permitted radiolabeling and pre-clinical studies. A preliminary in vitro experiment was accomplished, using a 169 Er-PSMA-617, to show the potential of 169 Er to reduce tumor cell viability., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Talip, Borgna, Müller, Ulrich, Duchemin, Ramos, Stora, Köster, Nedjadi, Gadelshin, Fedosseev, Juget, Bailat, Fankhauser, Wilkins, Lambert, Marsh, Fedorov, Chevallay, Fernier, Schibli and van der Meulen.)