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Production of High-Specific-Activity Radioisotopes Using High-Energy Fusion Neutrons

J. F. Parisi, A. Rutkowski, J. Harter, J. A. Schwartz, S. Chen

TL;DR

Problem: Global vulnerabilities in medical radioisotope supply and the demand for high-specific-activity isotopes. Approach: using high-energy D–T fusion neutrons to drive transmutation that changes the target proton number, enabling chemical separation; quantitative yields are computed with OpenMC depletion and a suite of feedstock/material pathways. Contributions: identifies numerous viable transmutation routes, achieves high specific activity for important isotopes such as 99Mo via 102Ru(n,α)99Mo, and shows practical production of 225Ac from Ra-226; demonstrates that a MW-scale fusion neutron source could meet global demand for many isotopes. Significance: offers a proliferation-resistant, flexible near-term platform for on-demand isotope production and highlights the need for feedstock processing and extraction development and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Abstract

We show that transmutation driven by high-energy neutrons from deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reactions can produce many important medical radioisotopes - including $^{32}$P, $^{60}$Co, $^{64}$Cu, $^{89}$Sr, $^{90}$Y, $^{89}$Zr, $^{99}$Mo/$^{99\mathrm{m}}$Tc, $^{103}$Pd, $^{111}$In, $^{117}$In/$^{117\mathrm{m}1}$Sn, $^{123}$I, $^{125}$I, $^{131}$I, $^{133}$Xe, $^{153}$Sm, $^{166}$Ho, $^{177}$Lu, $^{188}$Re, and $^{192}$Ir-and emerging isotopes such as $^{47}$Sc, $^{67}$Cu, $^{103}$Ru/$^{103\mathrm{m}}$Rh, $^{103}$Pd/$^{103\mathrm{m}}$Rh, $^{119}$Sb, $^{124}$I, $^{155}$Tb, $^{161}$Tb, $^{195\mathrm{m}1}$Ir/$^{195\mathrm{m}}$Pt, and $^{225}$Ac with high specific activity and in large quantities. These reactions involve stable, abundant feedstocks and non-fission transmutation channels that change the proton number, enabling chemical separation of the product. Fusion-based transmutation could provide a flexible and proliferation-resistant platform for supply of high-purity isotopes. A D-T neutron source operating at a few megawatts of fusion power could meet or exceed global demand for most major radioisotopes. Further research is required to develop tailored approaches for feedstock processing and product extraction.

Production of High-Specific-Activity Radioisotopes Using High-Energy Fusion Neutrons

TL;DR

Problem: Global vulnerabilities in medical radioisotope supply and the demand for high-specific-activity isotopes. Approach: using high-energy D–T fusion neutrons to drive transmutation that changes the target proton number, enabling chemical separation; quantitative yields are computed with OpenMC depletion and a suite of feedstock/material pathways. Contributions: identifies numerous viable transmutation routes, achieves high specific activity for important isotopes such as 99Mo via 102Ru(n,α)99Mo, and shows practical production of 225Ac from Ra-226; demonstrates that a MW-scale fusion neutron source could meet global demand for many isotopes. Significance: offers a proliferation-resistant, flexible near-term platform for on-demand isotope production and highlights the need for feedstock processing and extraction development and cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Abstract

We show that transmutation driven by high-energy neutrons from deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion reactions can produce many important medical radioisotopes - including P, Co, Cu, Sr, Y, Zr, Mo/Tc, Pd, In, In/Sn, I, I, I, Xe, Sm, Ho, Lu, Re, and Ir-and emerging isotopes such as Sc, Cu, Ru/Rh, Pd/Rh, Sb, I, Tb, Tb, Ir/Pt, and Ac with high specific activity and in large quantities. These reactions involve stable, abundant feedstocks and non-fission transmutation channels that change the proton number, enabling chemical separation of the product. Fusion-based transmutation could provide a flexible and proliferation-resistant platform for supply of high-purity isotopes. A D-T neutron source operating at a few megawatts of fusion power could meet or exceed global demand for most major radioisotopes. Further research is required to develop tailored approaches for feedstock processing and product extraction.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 6 sections, 5 equations, 6 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Fusion-Neutron Transmutation
  3. Transmutation Pathways
  4. Discussion
  5. Acknowledgments
  6. Availability of data and material

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Schematic of an example toroidal D-T fusion neutron source with transmutation blanket.
  • Figure 2: (a) $\tilde{\phi}$ (\ref{['eq:phitilde']}) for D-T fusion and fast $^{235}\mathrm{U}$ neutron-birth spectra, reaction cross sections on secondary y-axis. (b) integrated relative reaction rate using neutron spectra in (a).
  • Figure 3: Graphical illustration of two transmutation pathways, $\ce{(n,\alpha)}$ and $\ce{(n,p)}$, driven by D-T neutrons.
  • Figure 4: Cross sections corresponding to transmutation pathways for radioisotopes. Data from Brown20181.
  • Figure 5: (a) Radioisotope production in grams per MWth year, (b) mass fraction $w_i$ (see \ref{['eq:wi']}) in a D-T neutron flux of $10^{14}$n/s/cm$^2$($\sim2.3~\mathrm{MW/m^2}$ neutron loading). In (b), '+24 h' corresponds to extracted radioisotope material 24 hours after initial extraction.
  • ...and 1 more figures