NERS/BIOE 481
Lecture 04
Radioisotope Sources

Syllabus

III. Sources of Radiation (continued)

  1. Radioactive isotopes
    1. The atomic nucleus
      1. nuclear notation
      2. size of the nucleus
      3. n/p ratio and stability
      4. Table of Isotopes
    2. Nuclear decay
      1. beta decay
      2. electron capture
      3. positron decay
      4. gamma emission from excited daughter
    3. Activity (Decay rate)
      1. Curie/Becquerel
      2. Halflife
      3. total disintegrations (integral) and dose
      4. emission fraction/yield
  2. Isotope Production
    1. Production Methods
      1. Neutron capture
      2. Charged particle bombardment
      3. Nuclear Decay
      4. common medical isotopes
    2. Radioisotope generators
      1. Mo99 decay properties
      2. Tc99m decay properties
      3. transient equilibrium
      4. generator design
    3. Reactor production of Mo99
      1. Enriched Uranium targets
      2. Reliability problems
      3. Unenriched alternatives
    4. Non-Reactor production of Mo99
      1. Neutron Generators
      2. Small Cyclotrons (Tc99m production)
  3. Medical Radiopharmaceuticals
    1. Pharmaceuticals and function
      1. Tc99m bone imaging
      2. Tc99m lung imaging
      3. F18 FDG tumor imaging
      4. Other common pharmaceuticals
    2. Ideal radionuclide properties
      1. single gamma emission
      2. no charged particles
      3. halflife
        1. Long enough to image
        2. Short enough to minimize dose
        3. 6 hours
      4. Gamma energy
        1. high enough to escape
        2. low enough to detect
        3. 140 keV
      5. Useful molecular chemistry (practical radiopharmac.)