Medical radionuclide research activities at JRC-Geel

Abstract

A programme to study photon- and neutron-induced reactions of medical interest, as well as accelerator-based methods of medical radionuclide production, has been instituted at JRC-Geel, making use of both existing and new infrastructure. A new electron beamline that can deliver quasi-monoenergetic beams has been commissioned at the GELINA electron linac and will be primarily dedicated to the study of photonuclear reactions and for medical radioisotope production studies via photon irradiation. The recently renewed MONNET 3.5 MV Tandem accelerator provides light ion beams for reactionbased quasi-mono-energetic neutron production and has been used for the study of 99Mo production via neutron irradiation of molybdenum nanoparticles. In this work we present an overview of the medical radionuclide activities at JRCGeel, with particular attention to aspects of the design, development and operational challenges of the new GELINA electron beamline. Some future perspectives of the programme are also discussed.