Production Evaluation of Radioiodine-131 from Neutron Activated of Natural Tellurium Dioxide Target in PTRR-BATAN

Abstract

Radioiodine-131(I-131, ¹³¹I) is the other name of the radioisotope iodine-131 (¹³¹I),emits both gamma at energy 364 keV (81,7%) and beta with a maximum energy of 610 keV (89,9%) with half-life (T½) of 8.02 days. I-131 has been used in nuclear medicine for diagnosis of kidney function, thyroid damage, and for treatment of thyroid cancer, endocrine gland cancer, and neuroblastoma. Since 2013, PTRR-BATAN has been producing¹³¹I routinely from neutron activated of natural TeO₂ targets. The radioactivity of I-131 that has been able to be produced ranged between 499and 1,095 mCi for 5.0 gr of natural TeO₂ targets and irradiation of 96 hours. In general, ¹³¹I yield is influenced by the number of atoms target, neutron flux, cross section, and duration of irradiation time. In this report, production yields were evaluated according to position of TeO₂ target inside an irradiation capsule. Based on several observations, target which position in the center of the irradiation capsule obtained to give the highest yield, an average of 66% from the theoretical calculation. On the other hand, target which position at bottom of the irradiation capsule was found to give a lower yield, an average of 44%. Position of the target material in the irradiation capsule was found not affecting the quality of ¹³¹I products. It still conforms to the requirements of radionuclide used in the field of nuclear medicine. I-131 produced in this project have been used for preparing Hippuran-¹³¹I, MIBG-¹³¹I, Oral-Na¹³¹I and ¹³¹I-capsules which then used for diagnosis and therapy at several hospitals in Jakarta, Bandung and Semarang.