Radionuclide production

Hashimoto, Kazuyuki; Nagai, Yasuki

Radionuclides for medical use are produced in nuclear reactors and in accelerators. The thermal neutron fluxes in nuclear reactors are several orders of magnitude higher than those of other neutron sources, such as accelerator neutrons. Hence, nuclear reactors have been playing important roles in the production of large quantity of medical radionuclides with their half-lives longer than several days. In accelerators, medical radionuclides with their half-lives longer than several minutes are produced. Recent progresses in accelerator technology as well as targetry technology, however, could enable one to obtain high-flux bremsstrahlung and intense energetic accelerator neutrons, and thereby to study new routes to produce medical radionuclides.