NIDC News

The DOE Office of Science is excited to announce a new Funding Opportunity for Research, Development, and Training in Isotope Production.
The DOE Office of Science is excited to announce a new Funding Opportunity for Research, Development, and Training in Isotope Production (DE-FOA-0003063).
SPECT image of 0.8 mCi of Pb-203 as PbCl2 in solution.  The material was placed in a small device used to gauge resolution capabilities of the imaging camera against the source isotope. Image courtesy: Suzanne E. Lapi and Shefali Saini, UAB
The U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program is pleased to announce lead-203 has been added to our catalog and is available for purchase.
The Fermi Award is a Presidential award and is one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. Government.
The Fermi Award is a Presidential award and is one of the oldest and most prestigious science and technology honors bestowed by the U.S. Government.

DOE Isotope Program Highlights

Image courtesy of Brown, M.A., Metal Oxide Sorbents for the Separation of Radium and Actinium, Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, 59, 20472-20477 (2020). [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.0c04084] The separation of radium and actinium is a major component in the production, distribution, and purity of targeted alpha therapy isotopes. This image shows the separation profiles of radium (purple) and actinium (green) across a zirconia resin.

Scientists Develop Inorganic Resins for Generating and Purifying Radium and Actinium

Research advances the chemistry and improves the purity of isotopes for targeted alpha therapy used in the treatment of cancers.
Image courtesy of Gauthier Deblonde, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory This photograph is a rare example of a curium compound (isotopes Cm-248/246). This is a Cm(III)-polyoxometalate complex isolated and characterized using the newly proposed technique that required only 1-10 micrograms of the precious radioisotope.

New Strategy Can Harvest Chemical Information on Rare Isotopes with a Fraction of the Material

A newly proposed approach aids chemical studies of rare, toxic, radioactive, and precious isotopes by requiring 1,000 times less material.
Image courtesy of Jaimee Janiga, Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Getting Purer Berkelium, Faster than Ever

This new method individually separates heavy metals — an actinide chemist’s dream.
Left: production rate as a function of proton energy of parent radioisotopes selenium-72 (Se-72) (1) & germanium-68 (Ge-68) (2). Right, a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) image of a patient with metastatic colon cancer, obtained using gallium-68 (Ga-68)

Fighting Cancer on Earth and in Space Using High-Energy Protons

Scientists on Earth use high-energy protons to create isotopes to detect and treat cancer. In space, however, these same high-energy protons can pose a risk to spacecraft and the health of the astronauts traveling in them.