212Pb/212Bi Generator for nuclear medicine

A scheme for producing the α-emitters 212 Pb and 212 Bi, to be used in a promising method of diagnostics and therapy in oncology – radioimmunotherapy, is proposed. The technology is based on two generators operating in tandem: 228 Th/ 212 Pb and 212 Pb/ 212 Bi. The first one is based on separation from an initial solution containing thorium isotopes and gaseous 220 Rn, which secures the purity of the desired products 212 Pb and 212 Bi. For a 228 Th/ 212 Pb model generator, the efficiency of 220 Rn extraction from solution was ~60%. After conditioning, the 212 Pb solution from the 228 Th/ 212 Pb generator was used to charge a column, which functioned as a 212 Pb/ 212 Bi generator, with a cation exchanger.