Techniques for on-demand production of medical isotopes such as Mo-99/Tc-99m and radioactive iodine isotopes including I-131
AssigneeGlobal Medical Isotope Systems LLC
InventorFrancis Y Tsang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for radioisotope production uses fast-neutron-caused fission of depleted or naturally occurring uranium targets in an irradiation chamber. Fast fission can be enhanced by having neutrons encountering the target undergo scattering or reflection to increase each neutron's probability of causing fission (n, f) reactions in U-238. The U-238 can be deployed as one or more layers sandwiched between layers of neutron-reflecting material, or as rods surrounded by neutron-reflecting material. The gaseous fission products can be withdrawn from the irradiation chamber on a continuous basis, and the radioactive iodine isotopes (including I-131) extracted.
Claims19
Apparatus for producing radioactive iodine isotopes comprising:
- a neutron generator that is not a nuclear reactor;
- an irradiation chamber comprising a number of regions configured to receive NEU material to be fissioned upon irradiation by neutrons generated by the neutron generator, at least one non-moderating neutron-reflecting region, a gas inlet port, and a gas outlet port;
- wherein the gas inlet port, the gas outlet port, and the number of regions configured to receive NEU material are in gas communication;
- and
- wherein the at least one non-moderating neutron-reflecting region comprises one or more walls of the irradiation chamber formed of non-moderating neutron-reflecting material.
Apparatus for producing radioactive iodine comprising:
- a compact, stand-alone neutron generator;
- an irradiation chamber, the irradiation chamber comprises at least one region configured to receive NEU material to be fissioned upon irradiation by neutrons generated by the neutron generator, at least one non-moderating neutron-reflecting region, a gas inlet, and a gas outlet;
- means for introducing a carrier gas into the gas inlet to form a gas mixture with a fission products;
- means for withdrawing the gas mixture from the gas outlet;
- means for separating at least a portion of the fission products from the gas mixture;
- and
- wherein the at least one non-moderating neutron-reflecting region comprises one or more walls of the irradiation chamber formed of non-moderating neutron-reflecting material.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.