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

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