Cyclotron production and quality control of “high specific activity' radionuclides in “no-carrier-added' form for radioanalytical applications in the life sciences

Abstract

Radionuclides of very high specific activity AS(t) have great relevance for applications in the life sciences. Updated definitions of AS are given. The real AS(t) must be measured by analytical and radioanalytical techniques. No-carrier-added (NCA) radionuclides have AS(NCA) sometimes close to the carrier-free (CF) value AS(CF). The accurate knowledge of excitation functions of nuclear reactions vs. ion beam energy is mandatory to maximize AS(NCA); the minimization of isotopic dilution factor IDF(t) has been achieved too. A range of accelerator production and radioanalytical QC methods for AS(NCA) optimization and determination is presented.