Neutronic Study on Ac-225 Production for Cancer Therapy by (n,2n) Reaction of Ra-226 or Th-230 Using Fast Reactor Joyo

Abstract

Ac-225 has lately drawn considerable attention as a radioisotope for targeted alpha therapy treatment for certain types of prostate, blood-derived, and disseminated cancers, but its supply is limited. Therefore, we investigated the production method of Ac-225 by nuclear transmutation in a fast neutron reactor. The authors investigated irradiation of Ra-226 or Th-230 as a target nuclide in the experimental fast reactor Joyo, owned and operated by Japan Atomic Energy Agency, which has abundant fast neutrons and a large loading region with high heat removal capacity. Ra-226 is in increasing demand as a target nuclide to produce Ac-225. Therefore, as another option, we selected Th-230, which is 50 times more abundant than Ra-226 in natural uranium, as an alternative nuclide. Irradiation of Ra-226 and Th-230 with high energy neutrons above the threshold causes an (n,2n) reaction, producing Ra-225 and Th-229, respectively, which are the parent nuclides of Ac-225. The analyses showed that 47 GBq of Ac-225 can be generated annually by irradiating 1 g of Ra-226, and 6.5 GBq of Ac-225 can be semi-permanently generated every year by one-time irradiation of 50 g of Th-230 for 10 years (5 EFPY). It can be concluded that 100 MWt Joyo has potential to produce more than 70% of the current global supply of Ac-225 and/or to generate the parent nuclide Th-229, which keeps producing Ac-225 for thousands of years.