NUCLEAR ISOTOPES
From Swords to Plowshares

Russ Knapp led the development of the rhenium-188 generator in which tungsten-188 decays to rhenium-188, used to treat restenosis in heart patients and cancer-induced pain.

During World War II, calutrons at the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant were used to separate electromagnetically two uranium isotopes to produce bomb-grade material for the Manhattan Project. After the war, all but one of the calutron buildings were converted to other uses. The remaining facility was transferred to ORNL for the production of many isotopes for peaceful uses.

ORNL used the calutrons to produce hundreds of stable isotopes for numerous applications; many of these enriched isotopes were the starting materials for the preparation of radioisotopes. Some calutrons also were used to produce highly enriched uranium, plutonium, americium, and curium isotopes.

Radioactive medical isotopes produced from stable calutron-enriched isotopes include palladium-103 for treating prostate cancer; thallium-201 for heart imaging; rhenium-188 for treating cancer and restenosis; gallium-67 for imaging tumors; and strontium-89 for reducing metastatic bone pain. Non-medical products include nickel-63 for electronics and explosives detection and rubidium-87 for atomic clocks for geopositioning and cellular-phone systems. Since 1998 the calutrons have been maintained in a standby mode until needed.

For 56 years ORNL has produced radioisotopes using its reactors. Biochemist Waldo Cohn applied ion-exchange methods to the separation of fission products at the Graphite Re-actor and organized the production and national distribution of its radioisotopes, including the first shipment from a reactor to a hospital.

Subsequent ORNL reactors have provided radioisotopes for use in agriculture, industry, and medicine. The High Flux Isotope Reactor is the principal supplier of several radioisotopes used in cancer treatment, nondestructive testing, and explosives detection. An important radioisotope produced at HFIR is californium-252, an excellent neutron source that has been used to find tiny cracks in aircraft parts. Clinical research on more than 5500 patients shows californium-252 has been extremely effective in treating cervical tumors and cancers of the head, neck, and oral cavity.

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