Production of radioisotopes by cyclotron at the Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear - an evaluation of the present stage of development

Since 1974 a variable energy isochronous cyclotron (CV-28) is operating at Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear in Rio de Janeiro, with the main purpose of producing radioisotopes for medical diagnosis. To accomplish this, besides the conventional chemical laboratories and related facilities, hot chemistry laboratories with their specific equipment and remote handling devices had to be designed and constructed at this Institute, and are still being developed, due to a lack of engineering companies working in this field. Other equipment, intrinsically related to cyclotrons like high power density target holders, collimators etc. were also conceived and constructed. Among the produced raioisotopes, high purity gallium-67 and indium-111 have been periodically sent to hospitals and some efforts are still being made in order to improve and simplify the chemical processing as well as the operational procedures. Some work has also been devoted to the development and improvement of methods for the production of iodine-123, bromine-77 and thallium-201. (Author)