Production of actinium-225 from a (n,p) reaction: Feasibility and pre-design studies
Abstract
Actinium-225 is used in nuclear medicine for the treatment of malignant tumours. It can be applied to produce Bi-213 in a reusable generator or can be used alone as an agent for radiation therapy, in particular for targeted alpha therapy. However, the availability of Ac-225 for worldwide use, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, is limited. We present a feasibility study employing GATE, an open-source Monte Carlo simulation toolkit, on the production of Ac-225 from a neutron generator. This work suggests that a design consisting of three concentric cylinders, the innermost a Cf-252 neutron source, the middle nickel cylinder acting as a proton-producing target and the outer cylinder a RaCl2 target may provide a feasible design outline for an Ac-225 generator.
© 2021 Fouad A. Abolaban, Essam M. Banoqitah, Eslam M. Taha, Abdulsalam M. Alhawsawi, Fathi A. Djouider, Andrew Nisbet, published by Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology
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