The presently-disclosed invention relates generally to titanium-molybdate-99 materials suitable for use in technetium-99m generators (Mo-99/Tc-99m generators) and, more specifically, irradiation targets used in the production of those titanium-molybdate-99 materials and a debundling tool for the disassembly of the irradiation targets.
Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) is the most commonly used radioisotope in nuclear medicine (e.g., medical diagnostic imaging). Tc-99m (m is metastable) is typically injected into a patient and, when used with certain equipment, is used to image the patient's internal organs. However, Tc-99m has a half-life of only six (6) hours. As such, readily available sources of Tc-99m are of particular interest and/or need in at least the nuclear medicine field.
Given the short half-life of Tc-99m, Tc-99m is typically obtained at the location and/or time of need (e.g., at a pharmacy, hospital, etc.) via a Mo-99/Tc-99m generator. Mo-99/Tc-99m generators are devices used to extract the metastable isotope of technetium (i.e., Tc-99m) from a source of decaying molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) by passing saline through the Mo-99 material. Mo-99 is unstable and decays with a 66-hour half-life to Tc-99m. Mo-99 is typically produced in a high-flux nuclear reactor from the irradiation of highly-enriched uranium targets (93% Uranium-235) and shipped to Mo-99/Tc-99m generator manufacturing sites after subsequent processing steps to reduce the Mo-99 to a usable form. Mo-99/Tc-99m generators are then distributed from these centralized locations to hospitals and pharmacies throughout the country. Since Mo-99 has a short half-life and the number of production sites are limited, it is desirable to minimize the amount of time needed to reduce the irradiated Mo-99 material to a useable form.
There at least remains a need, therefore, for a process for producing a titanium-molybdate-99 material suitable for use in Tc-99m generators in a timely manner.
One embodiment of the present disclosure provides an irradiation target for the production of radioisotopes, including at least one plate defining a central opening and an elongated central member passing through the central opening of the at least one plate so that the at least one plate is retained thereon. The at least one plate and the elongated central member are both formed of materials that produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) by way of neutron capture.
Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides an irradiation target system for the production of radioisotopes, having an irradiation target, including at least one plate defining a central opening, and a first elongated central member including an elongated body, a pair of wings extending transversely therefrom at a first end, and a pair of tabs extending transversely therefrom at a second end, the elongated body passing through the central opening of the at least one plate so that the at least one plate is retained thereon, an irradiation target debundling tool, having a body portion including a planar top surface, and a recess extending downwardly into the body of the tool so that a planar portion of the top surface is disposed on each side of the recess, wherein each planar portion of the planar top surface is configured to abut a corresponding wing of the first elongated central member.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not, all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, this invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements.
Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent same or analogous features or elements of the invention according to the disclosure.
The invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not, all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, this invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. As used in the specification, and in the appended claims, the singular forms “a”, “an”, “the”, include plural referents unless the context clearly dictates otherwise.
Reference will now be made to presently preferred embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit thereof. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, terms referring to a direction or a position relative to the orientation of the irradiation target and debundling tool, such as but not limited to “vertical,” “horizontal,” “upper,” “lower,” “above,” or “below,” refer to directions and relative positions with respect to the target and debundling tool's orientation in its normal intended operation, as indicated in the Figures herein. Thus, for instance, the terms “vertical” and “upper” refer to the vertical direction and relative upper position in the perspectives of the Figures and should be understood in that context, even with respect to a target and debundling tool that may be disposed in a different orientation.
Further, the term “or” as used in this disclosure and the appended claims is intended to mean an inclusive “or” rather than an exclusive “or.” That is, unless specified otherwise, or clear from the context, the phrase “X employs A or B” is intended to mean any of the natural inclusive permutations. That is, the phrase “X employs A or B” is satisfied by any of the following instances: X employs A; X employs B; or X employs both A and B. In addition, the articles “a” and “an” as used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean “one or more” unless specified otherwise or clear from the context to be directed to a singular form. Throughout the specification and claims, the following terms take at least the meanings explicitly associated herein, unless the context dictates otherwise. The meanings identified below do not necessarily limit the terms, but merely provided illustrative examples for the terms. The meaning of “a,” “an,” and “the” may include plural references, and the meaning of “in” may include “in” and “on.” The phrase “in one embodiment,” as used herein does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, although it may.
Referring now to
Referring specifically to
In the discussed embodiment, the elongated body 122a, 122b of each retaining clip 120a, 120b has a length that is slightly greater than the overall length of the plurality of thin plates of irradiation target 100. The maximum width of each elongated body 122a, 122b allows the end of each retaining clip 120a, 120b that includes tabs 126a, 126b to be slid through the bore defined by the plurality of thin plates 110 during the assembly process as discussed in greater detail below.
The majority of the mass of irradiation target 100 lies in the plurality of thin plates 110 that are slidably received on the rigid spine 120. Preferably, each thin plate 110 is a thin annular plate, the reduced thickness of each annular plate 110 provides an increased surface area for a given amount of target material. The increased surface area facilitates the process of dissolving the annular plates after they have been irradiated in a fission reactor as part of the process of producing Ti—Mo-99. Additionally, for the preferred embodiment, each annular plate 110 defines a central aperture 112 so that each annular plate 110 may be slidably positioned on the rigid spine 120. As discussed in greater detail below, the first retaining clip 120a is slidably received within the central aperture 112 of the plurality of annular plates 110 prior to the insertion of the second retaining clip 120b within the central apertures 112 of the plates 110.
In the present embodiment, a target canister 102 is utilized to insert a plurality of irradiation targets 100 into a fission nuclear reactor during the irradiation process. As best seen in
Referring now to
Next, as best seen in
After irradiation of target canister 102 and removal of the plurality of annular plates 110 therefrom, the rigid spine 120 is removed to allow for further processing of the annular plates 110. As shown in
These and other modifications and variations to the invention may be practiced by those of ordinary skill in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, which is more particularly set forth in the appended claims. In addition, it should be understood that aspects of the various embodiments may be interchanged in whole or in part. Furthermore, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the foregoing description is by way of example only, and it is not intended to limit the invention as further described in such appended claims. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the exemplary description of the versions contained herein.
This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/212,177 filed Jun. 18, 2021, and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/344,391 filed May 20, 2022, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein.
Number | Date | Country | |
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63212177 | Jun 2021 | US | |
63344391 | May 2022 | US |