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Nuclear data for reactor production of 131Ba and 133Ba

Journal Article · · Applied Radiation and Isotopes
The newest radioisotope for brachytherapy treatment of prostate cancer is 131Cs (t1/2 = 9.69 d, 100% EC). Generated via electron capture decay of 131Ba (t1/2 = 11.6 d, 100% EC), 131Cs has been used in brachytherapy for prostate cancer since 2004. The 131Ba parent is produced through neutron capture of enriched 130Ba in a nuclear reactor. For large-scale production of 131Ba, an accurate knowledge of production and burnup cross sections of 131Ba are essential. Here, we report two group cross sections (thermal and resonance integrals) for 130Ba and 131Ba and a new measure of the half-life of 131Ba. Targets consisting of milligram quantities of enriched 130Ba (~35%) were irradiated in Oak Ridge National Laboratory's High Flux Isotope Reactor at thermal and resonance neutron fluxes of (1.9–2.1) × 1015 and (5.8–7.0) × 1013 neutrons·cm-2 s-1, respectively, for durations ranging from 3 to 26 days. In addition, cadmium covered samples of 130Ba were irradiated for 1 hour at 12.6% full reactor power (10.7 MW). The yield of 131Ba approaches a saturation value of ~60 GBq (~1.6 Ci) per mg of 130Ba for 20 days irradiation at a thermal neutron flux of 1.8 × 1015 n·s-1·cm-2, with a thermal/epithermal ratio of ~30. Under the above experimental conditions, the two group cross sections of 130Ba are 6.9 ± 0.5 b (thermal, σ0) and 173 ± 7 b (resonance, I0). These values represent the sum of cross sections to metastable and ground states of 131Ba. For 131Ba, the empirically measured thermal cross section is 200 ± 50 b assuming an I00 of 10. This cross section is reported for the first time. Further, the half-life of 131Ba was remeasured to be 11.657 ± 0.008 d. Lastly, this study also resulted in the co-production of 133Ba (t1/2 = 10.52 y, 100% EC). The experimental yield of 133Ba is ~370 MBq (~10 mCi) per mg of 132Ba (thin target) for one cycle irradiation in the High Flux Isotope Reactor, and measured two-group 132Ba cross sections are 7.2 ± 0.2 b and 39.9 ± 1.3 b. These values also represent the sum of cross sections to metastable and ground states of 133Ba.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Nuclear Physics (NP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1810019
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1781961
Journal Information:
Applied Radiation and Isotopes, Journal Name: Applied Radiation and Isotopes Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 172; ISSN 0969-8043
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (10)

Neutron flux characterization of a peripheral target position in the High Flux Isotope Reactor journal July 2003
Numerical evaluation of the production of radionuclides in a nuclear reactor (Part I) journal April 1998
Cross section measurements of the 131Xe(p,n) reaction for production of the therapeutic radionuclide 131Cs journal October 2009
Study of activation cross sections of proton induced reactions on barium: Production of 131Ba→131Cs journal October 2010
Reactor production of Thorium-229 journal August 2016
Reactor production of promethium-147 journal February 2019
Measurement of neutron capture cross section of 187W for production of 188W journal June 2019
Neutron capture cross sections of 130 , 132 , 134 , 136 , 138 Ba journal June 2012
Heavy Nuclide Cross Sections of Particular Interest to Thermal Reactor Operation: Conventions, Measurements and Preferred Values journal August 1959
Current status of brachytherapy in cancer treatment – short overview journal January 2017

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