Reactor production and processing of therapeutic radioisotopes for applications in nuclear medicine

In this paper the reactor production of a variety of therapeutic radionuclides of current clinical interest are discussed. Examples include radioisotopes produced by single neutron capture and those which are available from –/decay of reactor-produced parent radioisotopes. Two examples of generator parents produced by double neutron capture of targets are also discussed. One key example in this category is¹⁸⁸W, produced from irradiation of enriched¹⁸⁶W. The production of¹⁸⁸W in the ORNL High Flux Isotope Reactor and the fabrication and performance of the first production level large-scale clinical prototype¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re generators are also described.