Reuse of decayed tellurium dioxide target for production of iodine-131

Iodine-131 was generated by irradiation of natural tellurium dioxide in a nuclear reactor. After irradiation the tellurium dioxide was transferred to hot cell and heated in a quartz furnace at ~700 °C. The Iodine-131 was distilled and collected in carbonate/bicarbonate buffer and used for thyroid cancer patients. The tellurium dioxide used was >99 % pure. During nuclear reaction nanogram tellurium was consumed to produce 131I, although significant loss of target material may occur in heating process. In dry distillation technique no chemical was added to irradiated target material. After 131I separation tellurium dioxide was decayed for 8 years in radioactive waste management facility. The decayed TeO2 was recovered, melted and crushed for desired mesh size. The TeO2 was sealed in Al capsule for re-irradiation purposes. The separation of 131I was carried out via dry distillation. The purity and yield of 131I separated from both of the irradiated new and irradiated re-used tellurium dioxide targets were comparable.