Theoretical investigation for optimizing the production of 223Ra in research reactors for treatment of bone metastases

• DOI: 10.1007/s10967-020-07159-9
• Publication Date: 2020-05-20T04:34:40Z
• Authors: Lakshay Jain; S. V. Thakare; Kondayya Gundra
• Keywords: Nuclide; Solver

223Ra is one of the most promising $$\alpha$$ -particle emitters for targeted radionuclide therapy. In this work, the possibility of producing 223Ra by neutron irradiation of 226Ra in Dhruva Reactor at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, India has been studied. A Bateman equation solver has been developed and used to calculate the activity yield of 227Ac for various combinations of irradiation and cooling periods. Based on this analysis, optimum time of irradiation and cooling have been estimated for maximizing the activity of 227Ac while keeping the activity from other unwanted nuclides as small as reasonably possible.