Production scheme for diagnostic-therapeutic radioisotopes by accelerator neutrons

Interest has been growing in the development of medical radioisotopes used for noninvasive nuclear medicine imaging of disease and cancer therapy. Especially the development of an alternative production scheme of (99)Mo, the mother radioisotope of (99m)Tc used for imaging, is required, because the current supply chain of the reactor product (99)Mo is fragile worldwide. We have proposed a new production scheme of (99)Mo as well as therapeutic radioisotopes, such as (64)Cu and (67)Cu, using accelerator neutrons provided by the (nat)C(d,n) reaction. Based on this scheme we have obtained high-quality (99m)Tc, (64)Cu, and (67)Cu suitable for clinical use by developing both production and separation methods of the radioisotopes. We proposed a new facility to constantly and reliably produce a wide variety of high-quality, carrier-free radioisotopes, including (99)Mo, with accelerator neutrons. We report on the development of the proposed scheme and future prospects of the facility toward the domestic production of medical radioisotopes.