Advances in intense beams, beam delivery, targetry, and radiochemistry at advanced cyclotron systems

The increasing demand for radionuclides for PET and SPECT has resulted in ACSI system improvements starting from the cyclotron and proceeding to the Radiochemistry Modules. With more TR30 cyclotrons installed and operating at full capacity, emphasis has been placed on improving the operational components to reduce both the incidence of failure and subsequent maintenance time. A cyclotron system has been developed that meets the needs of a regional radiopharmacy that supplies both positron and single photon emitters that would not otherwise be available. This new system has been named the TR24. In order to deal with some of the challenges of high currents, a method has been developed for passivating the entrance window foil during high current irradiation of a water target used to produce F-18. A method has been developed for passivating the entrance window foil to reduce unwanted chemical species that interfere with radiopharmaccutical production. Preliminary results for novel radioiodine production technique using the TR19/9 are also discussed. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.