Technetium-99m (99mTc) is the most widely used radioisotope in nuclear imaging. Current route of 99mTc manufacturing requires irradiation of highly-enriched weapon-grade uranium-235 (235U) in nuclear reactors. More environmentally friendly and safer alternative is a cyclotron production method via 100Mo(p,2n)99mTc nuclear reaction. Several challenges, however, exists, which have to be addressed before cyclotrons will be accepted as standard solution to 99mTc production. This includes solid target development, optimization of irradiation parameters, and establishing appropriate processing scheme.Using a medium-energy TR24 cyclotron, we investigated the influence of irradiation beam energy and beam time at low currents on the radionuclidic purity of resulting 99mTc. Various thickness enriched (>99%) molybdenum-100 (100Mo) targets were used for this purpose. Several resins were explored for best technetium/molybdenum separation. Two different automated units were designed for separation process: one is a vial-based multiple-use unit, while second is a cassette-based system incorporating disposable parts. A range of technetium radioisotopes is generated during proton bombardment of 100Mo target. Therefore, traces of non-99mTc isotopes will be present in radiopharmaceutical preparations made from cyclotron produced technetium. The amount of other than 99mTc technetium isotopes was below 1% of total radioactivity in the formulation at least up to 12h post-bombardment. The production capacity of a medium-energy cyclotron at high current and with appropriate target remains to be demonstrated.

<sup>99m</sup>Tc Production using a medium-energy cyclotron starting from <sup>100</sup>Mo targets

246th National Meeting (2013)

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99mTc Production using a medium-energy cyclotron starting from 100Mo targets

^99mTc Production using a medium-energy cyclotron starting from ¹⁰⁰Mo targets