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Researchers report fastest purification of astatine-211 needed for targeted cancer therapy
Astatine-211 recovery from bismuth metal using a chromatography system. Unlike bismuth, astatine-211 forms chemical bonds with ketones.
In a recent study, Texas A&M University researchers have described a new process to purify astatine-211, a promising radioactive isotope for targeted cancer treatment. Unlike other elaborate purification methods, their technique can extract astatine-211 from bismuth in minutes rather than hours, which can greatly reduce the time between production and delivery to the patient.
“Astatine-211 is currently under evaluation as a cancer therapeutic in clinical trials. But the problem is that the supply chain for this element is very limited because only a few places worldwide can make it,” said Jonathan Burns, research scientist in the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station’s Nuclear Engineering and Science Center. “Texas A&M University is one of a handful of places in the world that can make astatine-211, and we have delineated a rapid astatine-211 separation process that increases the usable quantity of this isotope for research and therapeutic purposes.”
The researchers added that this separation method will bring Texas A&M one step closer to being able to provide astatine-211 for distribution through the Department of Energy’s Isotope Program’s National Isotope Development Center as part of the University Isotope Network.
Details on the chemical reaction to purify astatine-211 are in the journal Separation and Purification Technology.
T. Eich, A. Werner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 53 | Number 3 | April 2008 | Pages 761-779
Technical Paper | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1733
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The heat load due to plasma radiation is estimated for the plasma wall components of the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X). A fully three-dimensional Monte Carlo code is used to simulate heating of first-wall components due to photon emission from the plasma. The plasma wall components can be described in a complex way with arbitrary shapes and orientation and flexible numerical representation. The volume radiation distribution is assumed to be described by poloidal symmetric and radially varying one-dimensional profiles aligned to the magnetic flux surfaces. A further example is given by a nonpoloidal symmetric radiation distribution following the five X point regions of the island divertor magnetic structure. Several realistic and artificial radiation profiles are chosen to investigate the local heat loads on an idealized plasma wall. The first detailed technical application of the code is the estimation of the local heat load on the Thomson scattering windows and on the inner surface of several vacuum ports of one half-module of the W7-X plasma vessel.
