Abstract:
225Ac is one of the most promising and highly anticipated alpha therapeutic isotopes in the field of nuclear medicine. Currently, more than 30
225Ac targeted isotope drugs have entered clinical trials stages Ⅰ-Ⅲ worldwide. The
229Th/
225Ac generator is currently the main production route for
225Ac. Due to the very small global stock of
229Th, the annual output of
225Ac is less than 2 Ci. The production of
225Ac through the irradiation of
226Ra faces challenges including target material shortages, difficulties in re-extraction, and radiation protection issues associated with
226Ra decay daughters. Thorium target materials have the characteristics of high fission cross-section, relatively abundant content, low price, easy processing, and good thermodynamic properties. Using high-energy proton accelerators to irradiate thorium targets is one of the main feasible ways for commercial preparation of
225Ac in major laboratories internationally. The research team collaborates with Liu Zhibo’s team from Peking University in 2021 to complete the first domestic μCi level
225Ac targeting and purification experiment. In order to achieve Curie level engineering production and application of
225Ac, it is necessary to ensure sufficient batch production of
225Ac while minimizing the content of
227Ac (half-life 21.77 a). Therefore, the selection of energy and irradiation time for accelerator irradiation of thorium targets is a crucial factor. The study focuses on the variation of the
227Ac/
225Ac activity ratio within the 50-200 MeV irradiation energy range. Simulation results indicate that the 50-69 MeV energy region represents a peak production window for
225Ac concurrently with a trough for
227Ac, establishing it as an ideal interval for
225Ac production. Specifically, irradiation within the 54-69 MeV range enables the production of curie-level quantities of
225Ac while minimizing the
227Ac impurity to less than 0.1%. This result indicates that a 75 MeV proton cyclotron can be used for large-scale production of
225Ac. Utilizing this energy for production can not only reduce accelerator costs, but also obtain
225Ac with sufficient yield and low
227Ac proportion. According to the calculation results, a separation and purification simulation experiment was carried out, using La instead of Ac, and successfully separating high-purity lanthanum from the simulated target liquid through a three-stage resin column series process, with a La recovery rate of 78.60%. The loss is primarily attributed to physical adsorption and dead volume retention during the multi-stage separation process; The chemical purity is 87.18%, with the main residual impurities being light rare earth elements such as Sm, Y, and Pr. The remaining elements are primarily lanthanides, which can be completely separated from
225Ac in the actual process, achieving high radionuclidic purity that meets the requirements for medical use in terms of stable supply. Based on theoretical calculations of
225Ac yield and its proportion, as well as simulation studies of separation and purification processes, this study can provides a reference for subsequent experiments on the preparation of
225Ac from thorium targets irradiated by medium to high energy proton accelerators.