Production of AC-225 for Cancer Therapy

Radium needles that were once implanted into tumoursas a cancer treatment are now obsolete and constitutea radioactive waste problem, as their half-life is1600 years. The increasing application of Ac-225 forcancer therapy indicates the potential need for itsincreased production and availability. The reductionof radium by photonuclear transmutation by bombardingRa-226 with high-energy photons from a medical linachas been investigated. The irradiated needles wouldthen be processed to remove the Ac-225, which canthen be used for 'Targeted Alpha Therapy' (TAT) ofcancer. The research in this monograph investigates thepossibility of producing of Ac-225 in commercialquantities, which could potentially reduce obsoleteradioactive material and displace the need forexpensive importation of Ac-225 from the USA andRussia in the years ahead. Scaled up production ofAc-225 could theoretically be achieved by the use ofa high current cyclotron or linac.