Apparatuses and methods for production of molybdenum targets, and the formed molybdenum targets, used to produce Tc-99m are described. The target includes a copper support plate having a front face and a back face. The copper support plate desirably has dimensions of thickness of about 2.8 mm, a length of about 65 mm and a width of about 30 mm; and the copper support plate desirably has either a circular or an elliptical cavity centrally formed therein by pressing molybdenum powder into the front face with a depth of about 200-400 microns. Also, the copper support plate includes cooling channels dispensed at the back face; wherein the copper support plate is water cooled by a flow of water during irradiation by a proton beam. Molybdenum powder is embedded and compressed onto the cavity of the copper support plate thereby creating a thin layer of molybdenum onto the copper support plate.

The present invention comprises a method for the generation of .sup.227Th of pharmaceutically tolerable purity comprising i) preparing a generator mixture comprising .sup.227Ac, .sup.227Th and .sup.223Ra; ii) loading said generator mixture onto a strong base anion exchange resin; iii) eluting a mixture of said .sup.223Ra and .sup.227Ac from said strong base anion exchange resin using a first mineral acid in an aqueous solution; iv) eluting .sup.227Th from said strong base anion exchange resin using a second mineral acid in an aqueous solution whereby to generate a first .sup.227Th solution containing contaminant .sup.223Ra and .sup.227Ac; v) loading the first .sup.227Th solution onto a strong acid cation exchange resin; vi) eluting at least a part of the contaminant .sup.223Ra and .sup.227Ac from said strong acid cation exchange resin using a third mineral acid in aqueous solution; and vii) eluting the .sup.227Th from said strong acid cation exchange resin using a first aqueous buffer solution to provide a second .sup.227Th solution. Purified thorium-227 of pharmaceutical purity and a pharmaceutical composition comprising the same are also provided.

A facility for producing radioisotopes. The facility includes at least one target holder. The target holder is configured to receive a target that includes a compound to be irradiated with an accelerated particle beam. The facility includes a cyclotron for producing the accelerated particle beam. The cyclotron includes at least one accelerating cavity within which the beam is subjected to a radiofrequency electric field in order to be accelerated and to a magnetic field enabling it to travel through the cavity several times, describing orbits about an axis of the cyclotron. The magnetic field is produced by at least one coil. The at least one target holder is inside the at least one coil as observed along the axis of the cyclotron. The at least one coil does not have symmetry of revolution about the axis.

Methods of producing and isolating .sup.68Ga, .sup.89Zr, .sup.64Cu, .sup.63Zn, .sup.86Y, .sup.61Cu, .sup.99mTc, .sup.45Ti, .sup.13N, .sup.52Mn, or .sup.44Sc and solution targets for use in the methods are disclosed. The methods of producing .sup.68Ga, .sup.89Zr, .sup.64Cu, .sup.63Zn, .sup.86Y, .sup.61Cu, .sup.99mTc, .sup.45Ti, .sup.13N, .sup.52Mn, or .sup.44Sc include irradiating a closed target system with a proton beam. The closed target system can include a solution target. The methods of producing isolated .sup.68Ga, .sup.89Zr, .sup.64Cu, .sup.63Zn, .sup.86Y, .sup.61CU, .sup.99mTC, .sup.45-Ti, .sup.52Mn, or .sup.44Sc by ion exchange chromatography. An example solution target includes a target body including a target cavity for receiving the target material; a housing defining a passageway for directing a particle beam at the target cavity; a target window for covering an opening of the target cavity; and a coolant gas flow path disposed in the passageway upstream of the target window.

A cabinet structure for an infusion system includes a platform, on which the system is mounted, and a shell surrounding an interior space, which contains at least a portion of the system. The shell preferably includes an opening that is sized and oriented to allow a lowering of a radioisotope generator, for the system, into the interior space, and a lifting of the generator out from the interior space. The shell may further include another opening, located at a higher elevation than the aforementioned opening, in order to provide access to a waste bottle of the infusion system.

The present invention provides a method for producing molybdenum-99 comprising: i) providing an electron accelerator; ii) providing a molybdenum converter/target unit (Mo-CTU) comprising one or more metallic components, wherein each one of said metallic components is made of a material selected from the group consisting of natural molybdenum, molybdenum-100, molybdenum-98, and mixtures thereof; iii) directing an electron beam generated via said electron accelerator onto said Mo-CTU to produce a braking radiation (bremsstrahlung); iv) employing said bremsstrahlung onto said Mo-CTU to produce molybdenum-99 and neutrons via a photo-neutron reaction; v) slowing down the neutrons produced in step iv) with a low atomic liquid, e.g. distilled water; and optionally vi) employing the neutrons produced in step iv) to produce a complementary amount of molybdenum-99 via a neutron capture reaction on said Mo-CTU. The invention further provides an apparatus for producing molybdenum-99.

The present invention relates to a column chromatographic method of manufacturing non-carrier-added high-purity .sup.177Lu compounds for medicinal purposes. In the method in accordance with the invention a cation exchanger and a suitable chelating agent are used. With the method in accordance with the invention it is possible for the first time to provide non-carrier-added high-purity .sup.177Lu compounds in milligram amounts for pharmaceutical-medicinal purposes from .sup.176Yb compounds irradiated with thermal neutrons, the radionuclides .sup.177Lu and .sup.176Yb being present in an approximate mass ratio of 1:10.sup.2 to 1:10.sup.10 for purification.

A system for producing technetium-99m from molybdate-100. The system comprises: a target capsule apparatus for housing a Mo-100-coated target plate; a target capsule pickup apparatus for engaging and delivering the target cell apparatus into a target station apparatus; a target station apparatus for receiving and mounting therein the target capsule apparatus. The target station apparatus is engaged with a cyclotron for irradiating the Mo-100-coated target plate with protons. The irradiated target capsule apparatus is transferred to a receiving cell apparatus comprising a dissolution/purification module for receiving therein a proton-irradiated Mo-100-coated target plate. A conveyance conduit infrastructure interconnects: (i) the target capsule pickup apparatus with the target station apparatus, (ii) the target station apparatus and the receiving cell apparatus; and (iii) the receiving cell apparatus and the dissolution/purification module.

An equatorial anthropic radiation source and a method of making an equatorial anthropic radiation source are described. The radiation source is useful in diagnostic imaging applications in healthcare or other industries (e.g. computerized three-dimensional segmental imaging; Crompton scattering imaging techniques; radiation detector check and calibration, in particular CdZnTe detectors commonly used in medical imaging).

A capsule for the transfer of a target material in a conveying system between a target irradiation station and a collecting station comprising: a beamline channel for the passage of an energetic beam irradiating the target material, a target holder holding the target material or a substrate backing the target material at a glancing angle with respect to the beamline channel axis, a degrader foil positioned across the beamline channel for degrading an energy of the energetic beam upstream of the target material, a target cooling inlet and a target cooling outlet for passage of a cooling fluid in a target cooling duct in a vicinity of the target holder such that the target material can be cooled during an irradiation, and a degrader foil cooling inlet and a degrader foil cooling outlet for passage of a cooling gas in a vicinity of the degrader foil.