Ponente
Descripción
An important part of medical applications of ionizing radiation are included in Nuclear Medicine. This is based on the use of radioisotopes as radiation sources and allows the both medical diagnosis and treatment of the major diseases with the greatest social impact, such as cancer, cardiovascular problem and brain diseases [1]. The two main challenges for the improvement and development of new therapies are: the search for selective metabolic radiotherapies that maximize the dose in the tumor tissue while minimizing the dose in the peripheral healthy tissues, and the development of new route of radioisotope production base on high-intensity accelerators to ensure a worldwide supply alongside existing nuclear reactors [2].
The International Fusion Irradiation Facility DEMO Oriented Neutron Source (IFMIF-DONES) could have a useful complementary application for the production of radioisotope for Nuclear Medicine. One of the most interesting radioisotopes is the Molybdenum-99 (99Mo) which disintegrates on Technecium-99m (99mTc). This “daughter nuclei” is used for more than 80% of nuclear imaging studies in the world [3]. A higher production is possible by the route 100Mo(n,2n)99Mo using enriched target placed in the optimal location at IFMIF-DONES, just behind the HFTM [4]. This route is not possible to reach in nuclear fission reactors.
In this work, we will focus on the deuteron-induced production of an emerging radioisotope: 177Lu is considered a novel radioisotope for therapeutic uses in medicine. Nowadays, 177Lu is produced by neutron capture on 176Lu (carrier added route) or 176Yb (non-carrier added route) in nuclear reactors. Its production with deflected deuterons at 40 MeV and 125 uA opens two new routes, the direct route 176Yb(d,n)177(m+g)Lu and the indirect route 176Yb(d,p)177Yb->177gLu. Here we compared our results of the deuteron- and neutron-induced production at DONES. Also, we will show our experimental work exploring high energy ranges not yet contrasted in the databases for a more accurate production of the deuteron-induced production of 177Lu, as well as, the novel radioisotope 165Er.
* Corresponding author. melopez@ugr.es
References:
[1] The top 10 causes of death, World Health Organization, URL: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death, reviewed Jun 2024.
[2] El auge de los radioisótopos en Medicina, Revista de seguridad nuclear y protección radiológica, Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear, Alpha 56, (2023), URL: https://www.csn.es/-/el-auge-de-los-radioisotopos-en-medicina, reviewed Jun 2024.
[3] International Atomic Energy Agency, Non-HEU Production Technologies for Molybdenum-99 and Technetium-99m, Vienna (2013), No. NF-T-5.4
[4] López-Melero, E. et al., Production of 99Mo at IFMIF-DONES reusing the flux of neutrons, Nuclear Materials and Energy, 38 (2024) 101575.
