Radioisotope Production

Suresh Srivastava
Leonard F. Mausner

The primary mission of the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) Medical Isotope Research and Production Program is to prepare certain commercially unavailable radioisotopes to distribute to the nuclear medicine community and industry, and to perform research to develop new radioisotopes desired by nuclear medicine investigators. In conjunction with this mission, the group also performs irradiations for non-isotope applications, sells by-products and explores opportunities for new products and radioisotope applications as needed.

The Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer (BLIP) consists of a beam line and target area for isotope production that uses protons up to 200 MeV energy and 110 µA intensity from the BNL Linac. The primary use of the Linac is as an injector to higher energy synchrotrons. Therefore BLIP generally operates parasitically with the BNL nuclear physics program at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), although some independent running of BLIP also takes place to extend operations when necessary. The accelerator operating period in 2012 is scheduled from January through July, 2012. The availability of longer lived radioisotopes (i.e., Be-7, Ge-68, Zn-65, Rb-83) extends well beyond the BLIP operating period. The High Flux Beam Reactor (HFBR) at BNL was also utilized for radioisotope production. However, the reactor was permanently closed in 1999 and reactor isotopes are no longer available from BNL.

The BNL Isotope Program is capable of producing the radioisotopes listed below. Some isotopes not scheduled for production at BNL in 2012 may be available from Los Alamos National Laboratory. The research offerings are subject to a DOE review process and may not be available every year. Rental of hot cell space as well as irradiations not requiring chemical separation are also possible. Lengthy irradiations for physics experiments can be accommodated if compatible with ongoing radioisotope production. In this manner BLIP is currently supporting materials research for the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment at Fermi National Laboratory.

The DOE Isotope Program has centralized all business and service activities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The Isotope Business Office, a part of the National Isotope Data Center, www.isotopes.gov, will issue quotations, accept orders, schedule shipments, invoice and collect payments. An online isotope catalog is available. Therefore, please inquire for price, detailed schedule, and ordering information at:

Isotope Business Office
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
P.O. Box 2009, Building 7606A
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6426
Phone: (865)574-6984  Fax: (865) 574-0986
Email: isotopes@ornl.gov   Website: http://www.ornl.gov/isotopes/catalog.htm

The current DOE list of research isotopes is published at the ORNL website listed above. Orders for these isotopes must be placed at least two months in advance of production. For more information contact the Isotope Business Office at the address above.

For technical information on BNL isotope products contact us directly at:

Isotope Distribution Office
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Building 801
P.O. Box 5000
Upton, NY 11973-5000
Phone: (631) 344-2212
FAX: (631) 344-5962
E-mail: isotopes@bnl.gov   Website: http://www.bnl.gov/cad/Isotope_Distribution/Isodistoff.asp

For access to the entire DOE isotope catalog see http://www.ornl.gov/isotopes/catalog.htm

Last Modified: April 25, 2012
Please forward all questions about this site to: Nicholas J. Franco

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit, applied science and technology organization.

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