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Reimagining nuclear materials for the future of medicine
Nuclear medicine has come a long way since Henri Becquerel first observed the penetrating energy of radioactive materials in 1896. Today, technetium-99m alone is used in more than 40 million diagnostic procedures every year—from cardiovascular imaging and bone scans to cancer detection—making it the undisputed workhorse of nuclear medicine. That single statistic tells you something important: An enormous portion of modern diagnostic medicine rests on a surprisingly narrow foundation, one built around a small number of aging research reactors that were never originally designed for continuous isotope production.
Kuniaki Watanabe1), Masanori Hara1), Masao Matsuyama1), Isao Kanesaka2), Toshiki Kabutomori3)
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 28 | Number 3 | October 1995 | Pages 1437-1442
Tritium Storage, Distribution, and Transportation | Proceedings of the Fifth Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology In Fission, Fusion, and Isotopic Applications Belgirate, Italy May 28-June 3, 1995 | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30614
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The stability of ZrNi and ZrCo to heat cycles in hydrogen atmosphere was studied through changes in absorption-desorption characteristics and in crystallo-graphic structures. ZrCo easily lost its absorption- desorption capacity of hydrogen below 30 heat cycles between room temperature and a given temperature in a range of 400 ∼600 °C. X-ray diffraction analysis showed that ZrCoH3 initially formed decomposed to ZrH2+ ZrCo2. On the other hand, ZrNi was more durable than ZrCo to the similar heat cycles. But, it was found that the absorption-desorption characteristics was degraded by heat cycles over 500. The X-ray analysis showed that ZrNi also dispropor-tionated to ZrH2 and ZrNi3. The difference in the stabilities between the two materials appears to be due to the difference in crystallographic nature upon formation of the respective hydrides.
