Delft patent on radioisotope production
11 September 2008 by DeltaWorldwide shortages of radioisotopes for cancer tests can be avoided, thanks to a new Delft technology, says Prof. Bert Wolterbeek of TU Delft’s Delft Reactor Institute (RID) in an article in the university magazine Delta.
Hospitals are faced with shortages of radioisotopes, meaning that patients have to wait longer for cancer tests. The isotope technetium-99m, which is used in treating some forty million patients a year, is generated in only a handful of reactors around the world. Three of the manufacturers have suspended production because of maintenance work. One of them is Europe’s most important supplier, the reactor in Petten.
Prof. Bert Wolterbeek of the RID has developed a method for generating the isotope required without using uranium. This technology will allow the new reactor in Petten, Pallas, and others to make even purer radioisotopes in a cleaner process.f.w.nuijens@tudelft.nl
