Production Of 132 Cs: A Positron Emitter

Abstract

There is a developing need for production of a positron emitting Cesium isotope for use in the study of antitumor effects in laboratory animals (see paper by Carl Pinsky et al.; these proceedings) , and ¹³²Cs is particularly suitable because of its suitable half-life, ease of production and biomedical convenience.

Generation of the radioisotope through deuteron or neutron induced reactions was rejected in favour of proton induced processes using the University of Manitoba Spiral Ridge Cyclotron. The ¹³³Cs(p,pn)¹³²Cs reaction was finally selected in favour of alternates such as ¹³²Xe(p,n)¹³²CS, particularly because of the difficulty and cost in obtaining the enriched Xenon isotope.

CsCl crystals with a total mass of 0.5 gm were wrapped in an aluminum foil pouch and irradiated with protons of energies between 10 and 18 MeV in order to maximize the yield from the reaction process.