Engineering study for remote production of therapeutic radionuclide

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K08096
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 52040:Radiological sciences-related
• Research Institution: National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Nagatsu Kotaro 国立研究開発法人量子科学技術研究開発機構, 量子医科学研究所 先進核医学基盤研究部, グループリーダー (30531529)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 核医学治療 / アルファ線標的アイソトープ治療 / アクチニウム225 / ラジウム226 / ターゲット / 核反応 / 放射性医薬品 / 放射線治療薬

Outline of Final Research Achievements

(1)Recovery and isolation of 226Ra from legacy sources, (2)Solidification process of 226Ra as a target material, (3)Development of a 226Ra-dedicated, safety-oriented target station, (4)Separation process of 225Ac from a bulky amount of 226Ra, (5)Establishment of the quality management process for 225Ac and Evaluation of 225Ac labelling potential, and (6)Recycling process for 226Ra were successfully completed in this study.
Because of the fire accident happened in Nov-2021, our cyclotron is no longer available to produce any radionuclides including 225Ac. As a result, a remote handling device developed in this study partially confirmed its performance by dry-runs; however, both objectives of (4) and (5) were satisfactorily achieved. When our cyclotron system reconstructs, the developed device would be put into practice as soon as possible.

Free Research Field

核医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究課題の成果は，世界的に極めて深刻な需要過多・供給不足となっている225Acの自施設製造を可能にする基盤技術を確立したことに等しい。同時に，取扱いや社会的な認識に難しさを持つ放射性廃棄物のひとつ226Raを，医学的に有用な225Acの原料として再生し，225Acの持続的国産化に資する成果として，社会的な意義も有している。
我が国では医療用放射性同位元素の安定供給・利用促進のため，原子力委員会が当該放射性物質の国産化を含めた検討を行うためのアクションプランを2022年５月に発出したが，本研究成果こそ，国の期待に正面から応えられる成果と考える。