Laser separation of medical isotopes
- Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
There is an increasing demand for different separated isotopes as feed material for reactor and cyclotron-produced radioisotopes used by a fast-growing radiopharmaceutical industry. One new technology that may meet future demands for medical isotopes is molecular laser isotope separation (MLIS). This method was investigated for the enrichment of uranium in the 1970`s and 1980s by Los Alamos National Laboratory, Isotope Technologies, and others around the world. While South Africa and Japan have continued the development of MLIS for uranium and are testing pilot units, around 1985 the United States dropped the LANL MLIS program in favor of AVLIS (atomic vapor LIS), which uses electron-beam-heated uranium metal vapor. AVLIS appears difficult and expensive to apply to most isotopes of medical interest, however, whereas MLIS technology, which is based on cooled hexafluorides or other gaseous molecules, can be adapted more readily. The attraction of MLIS for radiopharmaceutical firms is that it allows them to operate their own dedicated separators for small-quantity productions of critical medical isotopes, rather than having to depend on large enrichment complexes run by governments, which are only optimal for large-quantity productions. At the University of Missouri, the authors are investigating LIS of molybdenum isotopes using MoF{sub 6}, which behaves in a way similar to UF{sub 6}, studied in the past.
- OSTI ID:
- 426299
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-961103--
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Nuclear Society, Journal Name: Transactions of the American Nuclear Society Vol. 75; ISSN TANSAO; ISSN 0003-018X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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