skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Radioactive isotope production for medical applications using Kharkov electron driven subcritical assembly facility.

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/924377· OSTI ID:924377

Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology (KIPT) of Ukraine has a plan to construct an accelerator driven subcritical assembly. The main functions of the subcritical assembly are the medical isotope production, neutron thereby, and the support of the Ukraine nuclear industry. Reactor physics experiments and material research will be carried out using the capabilities of this facility. The United States of America and Ukraine have started collaboration activity for developing a conceptual design for this facility with low enrichment uranium (LEU) fuel. Different conceptual designs are being developed based on the facility mission and the engineering requirements including nuclear physics, neutronics, heat transfer, thermal hydraulics, structure, and material issues. Different fuel designs with LEU and reflector materials are considered in the design process. Safety, reliability, and environmental considerations are included in the facility conceptual design. The facility is configured to accommodate future design improvements and upgrades. This report is a part of the Argonne National Laboratory Activity within this collaboration for developing and characterizing the subcritical assembly conceptual design. In this study, the medical isotope production function of the Kharkov facility is defined. First, a review was carried out to identify the medical isotopes and its medical use. Then a preliminary assessment was performed without including the self-shielding effect of the irradiated samples. Finally, more detailed investigation was carried out including the self-shielding effect, which defined the sample size and irradiation location for producing each medical isotope. In the first part, the reaction rates were calculated as the multiplication of the cross section with the unperturbed neutron flux of the facility. Over fifty isotopes were considered and all transmutation channels are used including (n,{gamma}), (n,2n), (n,p), and ({gamma},n). In the second part, the parent isotopes with high reaction rate were explicitly modeled in the calculations. For the nuclides with a very high capture microscopic cross section, such as iridium, rhenium, and samarium, their specific activities are reduced by a factor of 30 when the self-shielding effect is included. Four irradiation locations were considered in the analyses to maximize the medical isotope production rate. The results show the self-shield effect reduces the specific activity values and changes the irradiation location for obtaining the maximum possible specific activity. The axial and radial distributions of the specific activity were used to define the irradiation sample size for producing each isotope.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
DOE Contract Number:
DE-AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
924377
Report Number(s):
ANL-07/18; TRN: US0802252
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
ENGLISH