Thorium: A Source of Multiple Medical Isotopes
Proton-irradiated thorium targets are successfully mined for therapeutic radium isotopes.
Researchers developed a new method to recover radium isotopes for cancer treatment. The process begins with the dissolved proton-irradiated thorium target solution. The process then takes the solution through a series of columns. In each column, different isotopes bind to the different substrates the column contains. With the anticipated scale-up to large thorium targets, dozens of patient treatment doses would be available for recovery from a single production process. Los Alamos National Laboratory’s Isotope Team devised the method with collaborators from Brookhaven National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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Source: the Japan Times