A method of separating actinium and/or radium from proton-irradiated thorium metal. The thorium metal is irradiated to produce isotopes including thorium, actinium and/or radium. The resultant product is dissolved in solution and a selective precipitant is used to precipitate a bulk portion of the thorium. The precipitated thorium can be recovered. Chromatography is carried out on the remaining solution to remove residual thorium and to separate the actinium from the radium.

An Actinium-225 generator is provided. The generator includes a neutron source; a neutron target arranged to receive neutrons emitted from the neutron source, wherein the neutron target comprises nickel; and a proton target arranged to receive protons emitted from the neutron target, wherein the proton target comprises radium-226. Methods for producing Actinium-225 are also provided.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for producing tailored solutions or medicaments containing radioactive isotopes (e.g., alpha particle emitting radioactive isotopes). The solutions may be produced by appropriate aging and separation steps. Therapeutically effective amounts of Pb-212 and/or Bi-213 may thus be obtained.

The present disclosure relates to systems and methods for producing tailored solutions or medicaments containing radioactive isotopes (e.g., alpha particle emitting radioactive isotopes). The solutions may be produced by appropriate aging and separation steps. Therapeutically effective amounts of Pb-212 and/or Bi-213 may thus be obtained.

The invention relates to a method for producing high specific activity radionuclides, comprising the steps of: a) irradiating a target of interest by a particle beam, so as to obtain an irradiated target comprising radionuclides of interest, b) chemically extracting a batch of radionuclides of interest from the irradiated target, c) mass-separating the batch of radionuclides of interest so as to obtain high specific activity radionuclides.

A method for obtaining .sup.225AC from .sup.225Ra having the steps of assembling a column having an inorganic stationary phase; priming the column to immobilize .sup.226Ra .sup.225Ra and natural decay products therefrom; immobilizing the .sup.226Ra, .sup.225Ra, .sup.224Ra, and natural decay products therefrom onto a stationary phase within the column; and eluting the column containing the .sup.225Ra with an aqueous sulfate solution to obtain a milking effluent that contains .sup.225AC. Also provided is a method for obtaining pure .sup.225AC from its isotope parents, the method comprising assembling a column having a stationary phase comprising an inorganic material; priming the column with the isotope parents to immobilize .sup.225Ac, and natural decay products of .sup.225AC; immobilizing the .sup.225Ac, and natural decay products therefrom onto the stationary phase within the column .sup.226Ra, .sup.225Ra, .sup.224Ra; and eluting the column containing the .sup.225AC to obtain an effluent that contains the isotope parents.

A means for installing material, through a fuel assembly instrument thimble insert, into the existing instrument thimbles in nuclear fuel assemblies for the purpose of allowing the material to be converted to commercially valuable quantities of desired radioisotopes during reactor power operations during a remainder of a fuel cycle and removing the radioisotopes from the core through the reactor flange opening once the fuel assemblies have been removed for refueling. The invention also describes methods that can be used to harvest the irradiated material so it can be packaged for transportation from the reactor to a location where the desired radioisotope(s) can be extracted from the fuel assembly instrument thimble insert.

A means for installing material, through a fuel assembly instrument thimble insert, into the existing instrument thimbles in nuclear fuel assemblies for the purpose of allowing the material to be converted to commercially valuable quantities of desired radioisotopes during reactor power operations during a remainder of a fuel cycle and removing the radioisotopes from the core through the reactor flange opening once the fuel assemblies have been removed for refueling. The invention also describes methods that can be used to harvest the irradiated material so it can be packaged for transportation from the reactor to a location where the desired radioisotope(s) can be extracted from the fuel assembly instrument thimble insert.

Processes, apparatuses, and systems for the production, separation and purification of radioisotopes for medical, industrial, agricultural, and energy applications are disclosed. The following operations are performed: selective adsorption of at least one radionuclide to a solid support and desorption of the at least one absorbed radionuclide by evaporation; or electrochemical separation of the at least one radionuclide by electrochemically depositing either the at least one radionuclide or the target material on a metallic electrode; or removing the target material by high temperature sublimation under vacuum or in an inert atmosphere, if the at least one radionuclide is less volatile than the target material.

A method for producing Actinium-225 from proton spallation of thorium targets via a radium generator. The method includes dissolving a thorium target into a thorium solution, evaporating the thorium solution thereby resulting in a dried thorium salt, reconstituting the dried thorium salt in sulfuric acid for formation of neutral thorium species, passing neutral thorium species through a cation exchange chromatography column for bulk thorium removal, conducting extraction chromatography in a mixed resin bed thereby eluting radium, evaporating the radium containing eluent, reconstituting dried radium, and conducting extraction chromatography to elute a purified radium fraction thereby constructing a radium generator.