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Isotope Science and ProductionIsotope Program Brochure (PDF) The Los Alamos National Laboratory has produced radioactive isotopes for medicine and research since the mid 1970s, when targets were first irradiated using the 800 MeV proton beam from the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility (LAMPF). Those target irradiations continued through the 1990s at LAMPF and its successor organization, the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The Los Alamos program has supplied a wide range of radioisotopes to medical researchers and other scientists all over the world. Throughout its history, the Los Alamos program has been a leader in developing and producing new and unique isotopes for research and development. Some of the isotopes, such as aluminum-26 and silicon-32, are unique to Los Alamos; they are produced nowhere else in the world. For others, such as germanium-68 and strontium-82, the Los Alamos program has been and continues to be a major supplier. The changing mission for the accelerator facility in the early 1990s provided an opportunity to upgrade and improve the irradiation capabilities of the Los Alamos radioisotope program. This resulted in the Isotope Production Facility (IPF) construction project, which focused on building a new target area dedicated to isotope production and research. The new facility utilizes a 100 MeV proton beam extracted from the main LANSCE accelerator and directed to a modern target irradiation facility. The LANSCE 100 MeV Isotope Production FacilityIn the fall of 2003, construction was completed on a new beam line and target area at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE). The new beam line diverges from the main LANSCE accelerator at the transition region between the 100 MeV drift tube linac and the 800 MeV side coupled linac. The linac accelerates both positively charged (H+) and negatively charged (H-) beams simultaneously. A pulsed (kicker) magnet was installed in the transition region so that a portion of the H+ beam can be deflected into the new beam line without impacting H- beam operations. This allows a high intensity (up to 250 microampere) proton beam with a nominal energy of 100 MeV to be delivered to the target box for radioisotope production. The facility consists of two levels. The lower level is underground and houses the beam line and target systems. The upper level includes an equipment room and a hot cell. Targets are loaded and retrieved through the hot cell using special remote handling equipment. This makes it possible to insert and remove targets without entering the beam tunnel or otherwise impacting accelerator operations. The target station allows for irradiation of several targets simultaneously, each at its own energy range. This facility will allow production of a wide range of radioisotopes to support medical diagnosis and treatment and scientific research. Strontium-82 is supplied to GE Healthcare for use in the CardioGen(r) rubidium-82 generator. The generators in turn are supplied to hospitals and medical laboratories to support cardiac imaging through Positron Emission Tomography (PET). The generator technology was developed by the DOE Medical Radioisotope Program during the 1970s and 1980s, and the technology was transferred to private industry in the late 1980s. The DOE continues to be one of the principle suppliers of the strontium-82 for the generators. Strontium-82 is produced by bombarding rubidium chloride or rubidium metal with protons with energies between 40 and 70 MeV. Germanium-68 is used for calibration sources for medical imaging equipment. Hospitals and research institutions across the nation use such sources every day to calibrate PET scanners. Without such calibrations the usefulness of equipment for medical imaging and research would be severely limited. Germanium-68 is produced by bombarding gallium metal with protons with energies between 20 and 70 MeV. Silicon-32 is used in oceanographic research to study the silicon cycle in marine organisms, principally diatoms. Its use in this application has dramatically improved the timeliness and quality of data available in this area of environmental research. Silicon-32 is produced by high-energy (> 90 MeV) proton bombardment of sodium chloride. Price Quotes and Isotope Ordering Oak Ridge National Laboratory Los Alamos Isotope Availability Information about isotope availability and scheduling as well as requests concerning unlisted radioisotopes may be obtained from: Technical Support Information regarding technical details on listed and unlisted isotopes may be obtained from: |
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