[cdn-nucl-l] Mo-99 in CANDU; "Cyclotrons to be 'hijacked' to solve isoto

Hi Jaro,

PET scans are better (more accurate) than SPEC scans because they also measure coincidence. But the half-lives of suitable positron-emitters are very short.

Enormous amounts of Mo-99 can be produced in a CANDU reactor by irradiating MAPLE-type "target" elements in several modified fuel bundles, but AECL is focused on bringing back the NRU reactor ASAP.

I submitted such a proposal to the Isotope Expert Review Panel (one of 22 Expressions of Interest). The ERP is supposed to make its recommendation before November 30.

Jerry Cuttler
jerrycuttler@rogers.com

From: Jaro Franta <jaro-10kbq@sympatico.ca>
To: multiple cdn <cdn-nucl-l@mailman1.cis.McMaster.CA>
Sent: Tue, November 10, 2009 6:48:34 AM
Subject: [cdn-nucl-l] "Cyclotrons to be 'hijacked' to solve isotope crisis"

Interesting.
I thought that these little cyclotrons can only produce significant
quantities of proton-rich isotopes like F-19, not neutron-rich ones like
Tc-99m.
Plus of course their automated mini-processing systems are not set up for
it....
See also http://www.cns-snc.ca/branches/quebec/slowpoke/CHUS_forensique.html

Jaro
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/Cyclotrons+hijacked+solve+isotope+cris
is/2204503/story.html
Cyclotrons to be 'hijacked' to solve isotope crisis
Canwest News Service, November 10, 2009 3:06 AM

Researchers plan to "hijack" cyclotrons in major medical centres across
Canada in a bid to generate rare isotopes and help solve the country's
nuclear medicine crisis.

"We hope to have something that we can start putting into people within two
years," said physicist Timothy Meyer at TRIUMF, a Vancouver-based physics
research centre and partner in the $1.3-million project approved by federal
agencies yesterday.

The project, the largest of several looking at short-term solutions to the
isotope crisis, will use cyclotrons at universities and medical suppliers to
try produce isotope technetium-99m, a key isotope used in nuclear medicine.

The project promises a local, short-term solution to the isotope shortage,
he said, one that could help tide the country over until a more permanent
solution is found.

"It could meet localized pockets of high demand," he said, noting that
cyclotrons in Montreal, Sherbrooke, Toronto, Edmonton and Vancouver could be
redirected to produce technetium-99m.

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[cdn-nucl-l] Mo-99 in CANDU; "Cyclotrons to be 'hijacked' to solve isotope crisis"