Analysis of alpha, beta and gamma emitting radionuclide impurities in waste materials generated from cyclotron produced 18F

Sammanfattning

The production of radioisotopes from medical PET cyclotrons generates waste materialscontaminated with radionuclide impurities as well as neutron activated radionuclideswithin building materials inside the cyclotron vault. The aim of this study was to analyzeradionuclide impurities in waste materials generated from cyclotron produced (16.5MeV PETtrace 800, GE) 18F with alpha, beta and gamma spectrometry. The followingradionuclides were found among the generated waste: 48Sc, 51Cr, 52Mn, 55,56,57,58Co,93mMo, 66,67Ga, 95,95m,96Tc, and 181,182,182m,183,184Re as well as the pure beta emitter 3Hwith an activity of 15.8 kBq. Furthermore, the following neutron activated radionuclideswithin the building materials inside the vault were identified: 24Na, 46Sc, 51Cr, 56,57,58Co, 122,124Sb, 140La, and 152Eu. The activity of the radionuclides in the waste was comparedto national regulations regarding clearance levels, and one of the waste components needa storage time of 3 days until they can be discarded as regular waste.