Effect of 226Ra purity as a target for 225Ac production using a fast reactor

Researchers are seeking alternative 225 Ac production methods because of the scarcity of 225 Ac for targeted alpha therapy. Although 226 Ra from waste sources has been considered, obtaining 226 Ra is challenging. Therefore, the authors focused on the contamination of minerals with 232 Th-derived 228 Ra while investigating methods to recover 226 Ra from uranium ores. The effect of 228 Ra contamination on 225 Ac production by 226 Ra transmutation using fast reactors was evaluated. Consequently, toxic 228 Ac contaminates 225 Ac. However, using the different half-lives of 225 Ac and 228 Ac, pure 225 Ac can be obtained from the chemical separation of actinium after cooling for 5–8 days.