Separation of the alpha-emitting radioisotopes actinium-225 and bismuth-213 from thorium-229 using alpha recoil methods

Abstract

An innovative method has been demonstrated for separating alpha-emitting isotopes for medical radiotherapy applications. The method relies on recoil-ion separation rather than on conventional wet chemistry techniques to separate medical isotopes from their precursor sources. The isotopes 225Ac and 213Bi have been separated from electro-deposited sources of 229ThO 2. Separations of 225Ac were carried out by placing nickel recoil collector foils in firm contact with the 229ThO 2 sources. One-stage recoil-ion separations of 225Ac from 229Th have been performed as well as two-stage separations of 213Bi from previously recoil separated 225Ac. In addition, a direct recoil separation of 213Bi from 229Th has been demonstrated. The 213Bi from the one-stage direct separation has a high isotopic purity, but contains small amounts of long-lived 225Ac alpha activity. The two-stage separations of 213Bi produce high isotopic purity material (>99.9999%), but result in lower isotopic yields. Range-energy calculations have been carried out to determine the yields of recoil ions as a function of alpha-particle energy and ThO 2 thickness. The results of the calculations have been benchmarked with recoil separation measurements carried out using ThO 2 electro-deposits over a range of thickness. A computer code based on the generalized Bateman equations has been developed to allow calculations of the amounts of any isotope in the 229Th decay chain as a function of recoil separation exposure time and elapsed time after the separation. An excellent match has been obtained between the predictions of the Bateman calculations and the results of recoil separation measurements. The recoil separation method has proven to be a simple and effective way of separating medically useful isotopes such as 213Bi. In addition, the method has been shown to produce no chemical or radioactive wastes, in contrast to radiochemical separation methods, which generate mixed (chemical and radioactive) waste.