Radioisotope production and management at Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Abstract
The production of radioisotopes has been one of the basic activities at Oak Ridge since the end of World War II. The importance of this work was best described by Alvin Weinberg, former Laboratory Director, when he wrote ``... If God has a golden book and writes down what it is that Oak Ridge National Laboratory did that had the biggest influence on science, I would guess that was the production and distribution of isotopes.`` Radioisotopes production continues to be an important aspect of Oak Ridge programs today and of those planned for the future. Past activities, current projects, and future plans and potentials will be described briefly in this paper. Also, some of the major issues facing the continued production of radioisotopes will be described. The scope of the program has always been primarily that of process development, followed by special batch-type productions, where no other supply exists. The technology developed has been available for adoption by US commercial corporations, and in cases where this has occurred, Oak Ridge has withdrawn as a supplier of the particular isotopes involved. One method of production that will not be described is that of target bombardment with an accelerator. This method wasmore »
- Authors:
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 10178643
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9404154-2
ON: DE94017765
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC05-84OR21400
- Resource Type:
- Conference
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Conference on peaceful uses of nuclear energy and nonproliferation,Bariloche (Argentina),19-21 Apr 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1994]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 07 ISOTOPES AND RADIATION SOURCES; RADIOISOTOPES; ISOTOPE PRODUCTION; NEUTRON SOURCE FACILITIES; ORNL; MANAGEMENT; NESDPS Office of Nuclear Energy Space and Defense Power Systems; 070100; PHYSICAL ISOTOPE SEPARATION
Citation Formats
Collins, E D, Aaron, W S, Alexander, C W, Bigelow, J E, Parks, J T, Tracy, J G, and Wham, R M. Radioisotope production and management at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. United States: N. p., 1994.
Web.
Collins, E D, Aaron, W S, Alexander, C W, Bigelow, J E, Parks, J T, Tracy, J G, & Wham, R M. Radioisotope production and management at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. United States.
Collins, E D, Aaron, W S, Alexander, C W, Bigelow, J E, Parks, J T, Tracy, J G, and Wham, R M. 1994.
"Radioisotope production and management at Oak Ridge National Laboratory". United States.
@article{osti_10178643,
title = {Radioisotope production and management at Oak Ridge National Laboratory},
author = {Collins, E D and Aaron, W S and Alexander, C W and Bigelow, J E and Parks, J T and Tracy, J G and Wham, R M},
abstractNote = {The production of radioisotopes has been one of the basic activities at Oak Ridge since the end of World War II. The importance of this work was best described by Alvin Weinberg, former Laboratory Director, when he wrote ``... If God has a golden book and writes down what it is that Oak Ridge National Laboratory did that had the biggest influence on science, I would guess that was the production and distribution of isotopes.`` Radioisotopes production continues to be an important aspect of Oak Ridge programs today and of those planned for the future. Past activities, current projects, and future plans and potentials will be described briefly in this paper. Also, some of the major issues facing the continued production of radioisotopes will be described. The scope of the program has always been primarily that of process development, followed by special batch-type productions, where no other supply exists. The technology developed has been available for adoption by US commercial corporations, and in cases where this has occurred, Oak Ridge has withdrawn as a supplier of the particular isotopes involved. One method of production that will not be described is that of target bombardment with an accelerator. This method was used at Oak Ridge prior to 1978 in the 86-inch Cyclotron. However, this method has not been used at Oak Ridge since then for radioisotope production, except as a research tool.},
doi = {},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/10178643},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994},
month = {Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994}
}