Protons- plus charge

In the nucleus
Neutrons- neutral
Electrons - negative charge
Outside the nucleus

Definition:
In nature there are nearly 300 nuclei, consisting of different elements and
their isotopes. Isotopes are different nuclei of an element having the same
number of protons but differ in the number of neutrons.
They are elements having the same atomic number but different mass
numbers.
Some isotopes are stable, however, some isotopes of an element may be
unstable. To attain stability they give up energy in the form of radiation
hence they are known as radioisotopes. They disintegrate, with the
emission of three main types of radiation.

The unstable nuclei decay by emission of or particles or radiation.

Some very heavy nuclei decay also by fission.
Radioisotopes, because of their radiation characteristics and the energy
they posses, can be utilized in industry, agriculture, healthcare and
research applications. While natural radioactivity is common in heavy
elements, it is rather rare in light elements exception being 19 40K, 37Rb,
V, 87 23 50 etc.

Origin
Naturally occurring radionuclides fall into three categories:

Primordial
These radionuclides originate mainly from the interiors of stars and, like
uranium and thorium, are still present because their half-lives are so long
that they have not yet completely decayed.
Secondary radionuclides are radiogenic isotopes derived from the decay of
primordial radionuclides. They have shorter half-lives than primordial
radionuclides.
Cosmogenic isotopes, such as carbon-14, are present because they are
continually being formed in the atmosphere due to cosmic rays.
Terrestrial radioactivity

MAN MADE
Manmade radioactive sources are produced by introducing an extra neutron to
atoms of the source material. As the material rids itself of the neutron, energy is
released in the form of gamma rays.
Radioisotopes produced with nuclear reactors exploit the high flux of neutrons
present. The neutrons activate elements placed within the reactor. A typical
product from a nuclear reactor is thallium-201 and iridium-192. The elements
that have a large propensity to take up the neutrons in the reactor are said to
have a high neutron cross-section

Two of the more common industrial gamma-ray sources for industrial

radiography are iridium-192 and cobalt-60. These isotopes emit radiation in a
few discreet wavelengths. Cobalt-60 will emit a 1.33 and a 1.17 MeV gamma
ray, and iridium-192 will emit 0.31, 0.47, and 0.60 MeV gamma rays.
In comparison to an X-ray generator, cobalt-60 produces energies comparable
to a 1.25 MeV X-ray system and iridium-192 to a 460 keV X-ray system. These

high energies make it possible to penetrate thick materials with a relatively

short exposure time. This and the fact that sources are very portable are the
main reasons that gamma sources are widely used for field radiography. Of
course, the disadvantage of a radioactive source is that it can never be turned
off and safely managing the source is a constant responsibility.

Cyclotron was devised by Lawrence and Livingston in 1932

accelerate charged particles like protons, deuterons and alpha.

to

Particle accelerators such as cyclotrons accelerate particles to bombard a target

to produce radionuclides. Cyclotrons accelerate protons at a target to produce
positron emitting radioisotopes, e.g., fluorine-18.

Radionuclides are produced as an unavoidable side effect of nuclear and

thermonuclear explosions.

These particles are accelerated to high energy levels and are allowed
to impinge on the target material. 11C, 13N, 18F, 123I etc are some of the
isotopes that can be produced in a cylotron

ISOTOPE "COWS"

Radionuclide generators contain a parent isotope that decays to produce a

radioisotope. The parent is usually produced in a nuclear reactor. A typical example
is the technetium-99m generator used in nuclear medicine. The parent first produced
in the reactor is Molybdenum-99 (66 h)*: these parent compounds are known as
radioisotope cows.

Technetium-99m (6 h): Used in to image the skeleton and heart muscle in

particular, but also for brain, thyroid, lungs (perfusion and ventilation),
liver, spleen, kidney (structure and filtration rate), gall bladder, bone
marrow, salivary and lacrimal glands, heart blood pool, infection and
numerous specialised medical studies.
They have to possess well-defined characteristics, and, ideally, the radioactivity
should be eliminated from the body as soon as the study has been completed.
A radioisotope, or any compound that contains a radioisotope, is said to be
radiolabeled and is called a radionuclide

Properties;
Penetrability

Gamma rays -they are stopped by 2 meters of concrete or 40 cm. of lead. Very
dense materials, such as lead, are commonly used as shielding to slow or stop
gamma photons.

Ionization
When radio isotopes pass through matter they tend to ionize the material in
their path

Blackening of photographic paper

Photographic film can be exposed by all types of radiation, and is used to monitor
exposure of personnel working with high energy emitters. A visible track in a
cloud or bubble chamber can pick up radioactivity, as can a calorimeter if the
energy emitted is quite high.
This property is used for auto-radiography

Decay
Radioactive decay by radioisotopes includes the emission of particles and/or
electromagnetic radiation.

Half life :
When the product of an atomic disintegration is a stable isotope, atomic
decay leaves less radioactive material behind.
Therefore, as time passes, the amount of activity declines logarithmically.
The half-life of a radioisotope is the time it takes for one-half of the
unstable atoms to disintegrate.

Each radioisotope has a characteristic rate of decay and pattern of

radiation. For example, 14-C is a low energy beta emitter with a half life of
5500 years
Isotope

Half life

15

2.4 sec

Ra-224

3.6 days

Ra-223

12 days

I-125

60 days

U-235

710, 000, 000 years (71 crore years)

C-

Alpha emitters release a particle composed of 2 neutrons and 2

protons. The atomic number is therefore reduced by 2, and the atomic
mass by 4.
Alpha particles are so heavy that even with low velocity their momentum
is high. They don't travel far, but when they collide with other molecules

they do a lot of damage, therefore alpha emitters are considered to be quite

hazardous.

When a beta particle emitter decays, one of its extra neutrons is

converted to a proton, increasing its atomic number by 1 without
changing its atomic mass.
The breakdown is accompanied by the emission of a negatively charged
particle of low mass, called the beta particle, and an uncharged particle
of low mass, called a neutrino.
For example, hydrogen consists of just one proton and one electron.
Deuterium (2-H), a component of "heavy water," consists of a proton, an
electron, and one neutron, and is a stable isotope. Tritium (3-H) is an
unstable isotope of hydrogen, consisting of a proton, an electron, and
two neutrons.
When an atom of tritium decays, one of the neutrons is converted to a
proton, one beta particle and one neutrino are released, and a helium
isotope (3-He) remains. Tritium is called a "soft" beta emitter, because
its beta particles have relatively low velocities
Gamma rays
Gamma emission does not consist of particles, but is an electromagnetic wave of
high energy emitted from an unstable atom.
Gamma irradiation is similar to X rays, but with a slightly higher energy.
Gamma irradiation travels at very high speeds (the speed of light).
They interact with matter in eight known ways, of which the three most
important lead to

production of secondary electrons, which in turn cause excitation and

ionization.
Energy is transferred to atomic particles such as electrons (which are essentially
the same as beta
particles). These energized particles then interact with tissue to form ions, in the
same way
radionuclide-emitted alpha and beta particles would.

An example of a gamma emitter is 131-I (iodine). Gamma radiation may

accompany alpha and beta particles

X rays
X rays are electromagnetic rays with photons of very high energy. They are
physically identical with gamma rays.

Methods of detection
The method employed to detect radiation depends on the type of emitter
and the intended purpose of detection.
The most well known method of detecting radiation is with an ionization
chamber
A high energy particle can dislodge electrons from the atoms it strikes,
producing pairs of ions.
Particles are allowed to pass between parallel plates, one with a positive
charge and one with a negative charge.
As ionization takes place the ions each move to the plate with the opposite
charge, producing a current. The current is read on a meter.
The Geiger-Mueller counter is based on the ionization detection principle

A Geiger counter, also called a Geiger-Mller counter, is a type of particle

detector that measures ionizing radiation.
They detect the emission of nuclear radiation: alpha particles, beta
particles or gamma rays. A Geiger counter detects radiation by ionization
produced in a low-pressure gas in a Geiger-Mller tube.
Each particle detected produces a pulse of current, but the Geiger counter
cannot distinguish the energy of the source particles.

Geiger counters are popular instruments used for measurements in health

physics, industry, geology and other fields, because they can be made with
simple electronic circuits.
Scintillation counter
A scintillation counter measures ionizing radiation. The
sensor, called a scintillator, consists of a transparent
crystal, usually phosphor, plastic (usually containing
anthracene), or organic liquid (see liquid scintillation
counting) that fluoresces when struck by ionizing
radiation. A sensitive photomultiplier tube (PMT)
measures the light from the crystal. The PMT is attached
to an electronic amplifier and other electronic equipment
to count and possibly quantify the amplitude of the
signals produced by the photomultiplier.
When a charged particle passes through the phosphor,
some of the phosphor's atoms get excited and emit
photons. The intensity of the light flash depends on the
energy of the charged particles. Cesium iodide (CsI) in
crystalline form is used as the scintillator for the detection
of protons and alpha particles; sodium iodide (NaI)
containing a small amount of thallium is used as a
scintillator for the detection of gamma waves.
Liquid scintillation counting
The amount of kinetic energy in a beta particle differs from one decay to
the next. However, each radioisotope has a typical energy spectrum, that is,
a predictable range of energies.
In liquid scintillation counting, the material containing radioisotopes is dissolved in an
organic solvent containing an aromatic solute (the scintillant).

When radioactive decay takes place, the energy of a beta particle is transferred by collision to an
electron in the shell of the scintillant, exciting that electron.
The electron then returns to its ground state, releasing a photon. The number of photons emitted
following each atomic disintegration is proportional to the energy of the released beta particle.

The vial is lowered into a dark chamber with photoelectric detectors on each side.
Each "flash" received by the detectors corresponds to one atomic disintegration. The
detectors are connected, via photomultiplier tubes, to a microprocessor unit that
records not only each event, but also the number of photons detected during each
event (brightness of the flash).

Gamma-Ray Spectroscopy and Applications

1
2 Most radioisotopes emit gamma rays and almost all elements have
isotopes that emit gamma rays
3
4 Used for detection, identification, and assay of naturally occurring
radioisotopes (e.g. in geology, mining, and oil exploration).
5
6 Detection, identification, and assay of man-made radioisotopes
(effluents from nuclear power and other sources of radioisotopes
such as cyclotrons, e.g. in geology, homeland security)
Measuring of tracers in biology, medicine, physics, chemistry, and engineering.

Gamma-ray imaging e.g. in nuclear medicine and drug development,

recently in homeland security and nuclear non-proliferation as well.
Elemental analysis by gamma rays emitted in induced nuclear
reactions.
Elemental analysis by nuclear (e.g. neutron) activation.
Gamma-ray spectroscopy to study the structure of nuclei.

Gamma-ray spectroscopy to study astrophysical processes.

X-ray fluorescence

Units of measurement:
Magnitude of radioactivity is measured in Becquerels (Bq), which is the SI
unit or Curies-(Ci).
One Becquerel is equal to one disintegration per second.
Curie is the quantity of radioactive material in which the number of nuclear
disintegrations per minute is the same as that in 1g of Radium i.e. 2.2
X1012.
37 kBq = 37 000 Bq = 1 Ci
37 MBq = 37 000 000 Bq = 1 mCi
RAD - unit of absorbed dose (100 rad = 1 Gy)- Radiation adsorbed dose
The rad is a unit of absorbed radiation dose.
The rad was first proposed in 1918 as "that quantity of X rays which when
absorbed will cause the destruction of the malignant mammalian cells in
question..."
It was defined in CGS units in 1953 as the dose causing 100 ergs of energy
to be absorbed by one gram of matter.

It was restated in SI units in 1970 as the dose causing 0.01 joule of energy
to be absorbed per kilogram of matter.
The older quantity and unit of radiation exposure (ionization in dry air) is
the "roentgen" (R), where 1 R is equal to 2.58 10-4 C/kg.
To convert absorbed dose to dose equivalent, or "rem," the biological
effects in man are now considered, which is done by modifying with a
quality factor. For practical scenarios, with low "linear energy transfer"
(LET) radiation such as gamma or x rays, 1 R = 1 rad = 1 rem. [2]
The Systme International has introduced as a rival unit, the gray (Gy); the
rad is equal to the centigray and 100 rads are equal to 1 Gy.

RBE- Relative biological efficacyLD 50 of radiation : human 400 RAD; amoeba- 1-2 Lakh/ parmoecium ;
Frog- 700 RAD
REM ( RBE x RAD) unit of dose equivalent (100 rem = 1 Sv) ( R
equivalent to man)
Gray (Gy) a measurement of absorbed dose (energy) deposited in any
medium by any type
of radiation.
Sievert (Sv) For protection purposes, the term Dose Equivalent has been
introduced.
The Dose Equivalent is expressed in Sieverts (Sv) and dose limits that are
given in this unit are a

measure of human absorbed dose, with corrections made for the type of
radiation.
In biological systems, the same degree of damage is not necessarily
produced by the same
absorbed dose of different types of radiation.
Until recently, other units for absorbed radiation were used:

A radioisotope, or any compound that contains a radioisotope, is said to be

radiolabeled and is called a radionuclide.
Radioisotopes and their formulations find varied applications in diagnosis, therapy and
healthcare. Bhaba Atomic Research Centre (BARC) supplies
reactor produced
radioisotopes and radionuclides for medical use. The radioisotopes processed and supplied
by Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT), Mumbai to medical uses across the
country, include radiopharmaceuticals, brachy-therapy wires, radio-immunoassay (RIA)
kit

Agricultural Uses Radiations from certain radioisotopes are used for

killing insects which damage the food grains.
Certain seeds and canned food can be stored for longer periods by gently
exposing them to radiations.
Better yields of milk from cows, and more eggs from hens have been
obtained on the basis of information gained by mixing radioisotopes with
their diet.
Radioisotopes are used for determining the function of
different plants.

fertilizer in

Radioisotopes are also used for producing high yielding crop seeds. Thus
the agricultural yield is increased
Industrial Uses There are many different uses to which radioisotopes are
put in industry. These include radiography, gamma scanning of process
equipment, use of radiotracers to study sediment transport at ports and
harbours, flow measurements, hydrology and water resource management.
The isotope related services like sediment transportation, gamma scanning
leakage detection and others have led to considerable monetary savings to
the nation. By -ray photography we can find out wearing of cutting tools
and lathes and can locate internal cracks in stones.
MEDICAL USES
Diagnostic
There are nearly one hundred radioisotopes whose beta and/or gamma
radiation is used in diagnosis, therapy, or investigations in nuclear
medicine.

Nuclear medicine uses radiation to provide diagnostic information about

the functioning of a person's specific organs, or to treat them. Diagnostic
procedures are now routine
The most used radioisotopes were discovered before World War II using
the early cyclotrons of Ernest Lawrence, with the initial applications to
medicine being developed by his brother John Lawrence.

Some of the most well known radioisotopes, discovered by Glenn Seaborg

and his coworkers, are 131I (discovered in 1938), 60Co (1937), 99mTc (1938),
and 137Cs (1941).

By 1970, 90 percent of the 8 million administrations per year of

radioisotopes in the United States utilized either 131I, 60Co, or 99mTc. Today,
99m
Tc, with a half-life of 6 hours, is the workhorse of nuclear medicine. It
accounts for more than 10 million diagnostic procedures a year in the
United States. It is used for brain, bone, liver, spleen, kidney, lung and
thyroid imaging as well as for blood-flow studies.
131

I, with a half-life of 8 days, is used to diagnose and treat thyroid

disorders. Seaborgs mother was one of the first to benefit from the use of
this radioisotope that her son had discovered. Fatally ill from
hyperthyroidism, (a related condition from which her sister died), diagnosis
and treatment with 131I led to her complete recovery and a long life. Former
President George Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush are some notable
people who were successfully treated for Graves' disease, a thyroid disease,
with 131I. Radioactive iodine treatment is so successful that it has virtually
replaced thyroid surgery.

Scintigraphy is the science, or art, of using radioactive materials to

produce a picture of their distribution within the human body.
Medical radioisotope scintigraphy makes use of the capability of certain
organs to accumulate either for a short time or permanently some

radioactive substances after they have been administered to a patient by

mouth or by injection.
Scintillation cameras, autofluoroscopes or spark chambers, view the region
of interest as a whole rather than scan it point by point.
As a result the doses to the patient could be lowered considerably or,
when these were already
acceptable, the time for the examination
reduced to sometimes a few minutes.
In addition the high sensitivity of these techniques now made it possible
not only to record the distribution of radioactivity fixed in a particular
organ but to follow its movements (usually with the passage of the blood)
through a number of organs such as the kidneys, the heart and lungs or the
liver

A very effective role for radioisotopes in nuclear medicine is the use of

short-lived positron emitters such as 11C, 13N, 15O, or 18F in a process known
as Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Incorporated in chemical
compounds that selectively migrate to specific organs in the body,
diagnosis is effected by detecting annihilation gamma raystwo gamma
rays of identical energy emitted when a positron and an electron annihilate
each other. These gamma rays have the very useful property that they are
emitted in exactly opposite directions. When both are detected, a computer
system may be used to reconstruct where the annihilation occurred. By
attaching a positron emitter to a protein or a glucose molecule, and
allowing the body to metabolize it, we can study the functional aspect of an
organ such as the human brain. The PET image shows where the glucose
has been absorbed (Fig. 13-3a).
Positron Emission Tomography (PET) which is a more precise and
sophisticated technique using isotopes produced in a cyclotron. A positronemitting radionuclide is introduced, usually by injection, and accumulates
in the target tissue. As it decays it emits a positron, which promptly
combines with a nearby electron resulting in the simultaneous emission of
two identifiable gamma rays in opposite directions. These are detected by a
PET camera and give very precise indication of their origin. PET's most

important clinical role is in oncology, with fluorine-18 as the tracer, since it

has proven to be the most accurate non-invasive method of detecting and
evaluating most cancers. It is also well used in cardiac and brain imaging.
PET imaging becomes even more valuable when we can observe the
functional image compared to the anatomical image. Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI)originally known as Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
Imagingcan provide very detailed images of the anatomy as shown in the
second image shown in Fig. 13-3b. These techniques provide researchers a
better understanding of what is healthy tissue versus what is diseased.
Positioning of the radiation source within the body makes the fundamental
difference between nuclear medicine imaging and other imaging techniques
such as x-rays. Gamma imaging by either method described provides a
view of the position and concentration of the radioisotope within the body.
Organ malfunction can be indicated if the isotope is either partially taken
up in the organ (cold spot), or taken up in excess (hot spot). If a series of
images is taken over a period of time, an unusual pattern or rate of isotope
movement could indicate malfunction in the organ.
Radio isotopes used for diagnostic purpose
Chromium-51 (28 d): Used to label red blood cells and quantify gastrointestinal protein loss.
Holmium-166 (26 h): Being developed for diagnosis and treatment of liver
tumours.
Iodine-131 (8 d)*: Widely used in treating thyroid cancer and in imaging
the thyroid; also in diagnosis of abnormal liver function, renal (kidney)
blood flow and urinary tract obstruction. A strong gamma emitter, but used
for beta therapy.

Iron-59 (46 d): Used in studies of iron metabolism in the spleen.

Potassium-42 (12 h): Used for the determination of exchangeable
potassium in coronary blood flow.
Selenium-75 (120 d): Used in the form of seleno-methionine to study the
production of digestive enzymes.
Sodium-24 (15 h): For studies of electrolytes within the body.
Technetium-99m (6 h): Used in to image the skeleton and heart muscle in
particular, but also for brain, thyroid, lungs (perfusion and ventilation),
liver, spleen, kidney (structure and filtration rate), gall bladder, bone
marrow, salivary and lacrimal glands, heart blood pool, infection and
numerous specialised medical studies.
Xenon-133 (5 d)*: Used for pulmonary (lung) ventilation studies.
Ytterbium-169 (32 d): Used for cerebrospinal fluid studies in the brain.
Carbon-11, Nitrogen-13, Oxygen-15, Fluorine-18: These are positron
emitters used in PET for studying brain physiology and pathology, in
particular for localizing epileptic focus, and in dementia, psychiatry and
neuropharmacology studies. They also have a significant role in cardiology.
F-18 in FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) has become very important in
detection of cancers and the monitoring of progress in their treatment,
using PET.
Gallium-67 (78 h): Used for tumour imaging and localisation of
inflammatory lesions (infections).
Gallium-68 (68 min): Positron emitter used in PET and PET-CT units.
Derived from germanium-68 in a generator.

Copper-64 (13 h): Used to study genetic diseases affecting copper

metabolism, such as Wilson's and Menke's diseases, and for PET imaging
of tumours, and therapy.
Cobalt-57 (272 d): Used as a marker to estimate organ size and for in-vitro
diagnostic kits.
Indium-111 (2.8 d): Used for specialist diagnostic studies, eg brain studies,
infection and colon transit studies.
Iodine-123 (13 h): Increasingly used for diagnosis of thyroid function, it is
a gamma emitter without the beta radiation of I-131.
Iodine-124: tracer.
Krypton-81m (13 sec) from Rubidium-81 (4.6 h): Kr-81m gas can yield
functional images of pulmonary ventilation, e.g. in asthmatic patients, and
for the early diagnosis of lung diseases and function
Rubidium-82 (1.26 min): Convenient PET agent in myocardial perfusion
imaging.
201 Thallium- (73 h): Used for diagnosis of coronary artery disease other
heart conditions such as heart muscle death and for location of low-grade
lymphomas.
Radio-cobalt (60Co) is used in the treatment of brain tumour, radiophosphorous (32P) in bone diseases and radio-iodine (131I) in thyroid
cancer.
Bacteria and other disease-carrying organisms can be destroyed by
irradiating them with -rays. The process is used to sterilise medical
instruments, plastic hypodermic needles, packets of antibiotics, and
hospital blankets

Radionuclide therapy (RNT)

Rapidly dividing cells are particularly sensitive to damage by radiation. For
this reason, some cancerous growths can be controlled or eliminated by
irradiating the area containing the growth.
External irradiation (sometimes called teletherapy) can be carried out using
a gamma beam from a radioactive cobalt-60 source, though in developed
countries the much more versatile linear accelerators are now being utilized
as a high-energy x-ray source (gamma and x-rays are much the same).
An external radiation procedure is known as the gamma knife radiosurgery,
and involves focusing gamma radiation from sources of cobalt-60 sources
on a precise area of the brain with a cancerous tumour. Worldwide, over
30,000 patients are treated annually, generally as outpatients.
Internal radionuclide therapy is by administering or planting a small
radiation source, usually a gamma or beta emitter, in the target area.
Short-range radiotherapy is known as brachytherapy, and this is becoming
the main means of treatment.
Iodine-131 is commonly used to treat thyroid cancer, probably the most
successful kind of cancer treatment.
It is also used to treat non-malignant thyroid disorders.

Iridium-192 implants are used especially in the head and breast. They are
produced in wire form and are introduced through a catheter to the target
area. After administering the correct dose, the implant wire is removed to
shielded storage.
This brachytherapy (short-range) procedure gives less overall radiation to
the body, is more localized to the target tumour and is cost effective.
Treating leukaemia may involve a bone marrow transplant, in which case
the defective bone marrow will first be killed off with a massive (and
otherwise lethal) dose of radiation before being replaced with healthy bone
marrow from a donor.
Many therapeutic procedures are palliative, usually to relieve pain. For
instance, strontium-89 and (increasingly) samarium 153 are used for the
relief of cancer-induced bone pain. Rhenium-186 is a newer product for
this
A new field is Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) or alpha
radioimmunotherapy, especially for the control of dispersed cancers.
The short range of very energetic alpha emissions in tissue means that a
large fraction of that radiative energy goes into the targeted cancer cells,
once a carrier such as a monoclonal antibody has taken the alpha-emitting
radionuclide to exactly the right place
Laboratory studies are encouraging and clinical trials for leukaemia, cystic
glioma and melanoma are under way. TAT using lead-212 is said to show
promise for treating pancreatic, ovarian and melanoma cancers.
An experimental development of this is Boron Neutron Capture Therapy
using boron-10 which concentrates in malignant brain tumours.
The patient is then irradiated with thermal neutrons which are strongly
absorbed by the boron, producing high-energy alpha particles which kill

the cancer. This requires the patient to be brought to a nuclear reactor,

rather than the radioisotopes being taken to the patient.
Radionuclide therapy has progressively become successful in treating
persistent disease and doing so with low toxic side-effects. With any
therapeutic procedure the aim is to confine the radiation to well-defined
target volumes of the patient. The doses per therapeutic procedure are
typically 20-60 Gy.

Although radiotherapy is less common than diagnostic use of radioactive

material in medicine, it is nevertheless widespread, important and growing.
An ideal therapeutic radioisotope is a strong beta emitter with just enough
gamma to enable imaging, eg lutetium-177.
This is prepared from ytterbium-176 which is irradiated to become Yb-177
which decays rapidly to Lu-177.
Yttrium-90 is used for treatment of cancer, particularly non-Hodgkin's
lymphoma, and its more widespread use is envisaged, including for
arthritis treatment. Lu-177 and Y-90 are becoming the main RNT agents.
Iodine-131 and phosphorus-32 are also used for therapy. Iodine-131 is used
to treat the thyroid for cancers and other abnormal conditions such as
hyperthyroidism (over-active thyroid). In a disease called Polycythemia
vera, an excess of red blood cells is produced in the bone marrow.
Phosphorus-32 is used to control this excess.
For targeted alpha therapy (TAT), actinium-225 is readily available, from
which the daughter bismuth-213 can be obtained (via 3 alpha decays) to
label targeting molecules.
The bismuth is obtained by elution from an Ac-225/Bi-213 generator
similar to the Mo-99/Tc-99 one. Bi-213 has a 46-minute half-life.

The actinium-225 (half-life 10 days) is formed from radioactive decay of

radium-225, the decay product of long-lived thorium-229, which is
obtained from decay of uranium-233, which is formed from Th-232 by
neutron capture in a nuclear reactor.
Another radionuclide recovered from used nuclear fuel is lead-212, with
half-life of 10.6 hours, which can be attached to monoclonal antibodies for
cancer treatment. Its decay chain includes the short-lived isotopes bismuth212 by beta decay, polonium-212 by beta decay and thallium-208 by alpha
decay of the bismuth, with further alpha and beta decays respectively to
Pb-208, all over about an hour.
Considerable medical research is being conducted worldwide into the use
of radionuclides attached to highly specific biological chemicals such as
immunoglobulin molecules (monoclonal antibodies). The eventual tagging
of these cells with a therapeutic dose of radiation may lead to the
regression - or even cure - of some diseases.
Reactor Radioisotopes (half-life indicated)
Bismuth-213 (46 min): Used for targeted alpha therapy (TAT), especially
cancers, as it has a high energy (8.4 MeV).
Cobalt-60 (5.27 yr): Formerly used for external beam radiotherapy, now
used more for sterilizing
Dysprosium-165 (2 h): Used as an aggregated hydroxide for synovectomy
treatment of arthritis.
Erbium-169 (9.4 d): Use for relieving arthritis pain in synovial joints.
Iodine-125 (60 d): Used in cancer brachytherapy (prostate and brain), also
diagnostically to evaluate the filtration rate of kidneys and to diagnose deep
vein thrombosis in the leg. It is also widely used in radioimmuno-assays to
show the presence of hormones in tiny quantities.

Iodine-131 (8 d)*: Widely used in treating thyroid cancer and in imaging

the thyroid; also in diagnosis of abnormal liver function, renal (kidney)
blood flow and urinary tract obstruction. A strong gamma emitter, but used
for beta therapy.
Iridium-192 (74 d): Supplied in wire form for use as an internal
radiotherapy source for cancer treatment (used then removed).
Lead-212 (10.6 h): Used in TAT for cancers, with decay products Bi-212,
Po-212, Tl-208.
Lutetium-177 (6.7 d): Lu-177 is increasingly important as it emits just
enough gamma for imaging while the beta radiation does the therapy on
small (eg endocrine) tumours.
Its half-life is long enough to allow sophisticated preparation for use. It is
usually produced by neutron activation of natural or enriched lutetium-176
targets.
Molybdenum-99 (66 h)*: Used as the 'parent' in a generator to produce
technetium-99m.
Palladium-103 (17 d): Used to make brachytherapy permanent implant
seeds for early stage prostate cancer.
Phosphorus-32 (14 d): Used in the treatment of polycythemia vera (excess
red blood cells). Beta emitter.
Rhenium-186 (3.8 d): Used for pain relief in bone cancer. Beta emitter with
weak gamma for imaging.
Rhenium-188 (17 h): Used to beta irradiate coronary arteries from an
angioplasty balloon.

Samarium-153 (47 h): Sm-153 is very effective in relieving the pain of

secondary cancers lodged in the bone, sold as Quadramet. Also very
effective for prostate and breast cancer. Beta emitter.
Strontium-89 (50 d)*: Very effective in reducing the pain of prostate and
bone cancer. Beta emitter.
Ytterbium-177 (1.9 h): Progenitor of Lu-177.
Yttrium-90 (64 h)*: Used for cancer brachytherapy and as silicate colloid
for the relieving the pain of arthritis in larger synovial joints. Pure beta
emitter and of growing significance in therapy.
Radioisotopes of caesium, gold and ruthenium are also used in
brachytherapy.
* Fission product
Cyclotron Radioisotopes
Copper-67 (2.6 d): Beta emitter, used in therapy.
Fluorine-18 as FLT (fluorothymidine), F-miso (fluoromisonidazole), 18Fcholine: tracer.
Germanium-68 (271 d): Used as the 'parent' in a generator to produce Ga68.
Strontium-82 (25 d): Used as the 'parent' in a generator to produce Rb-82.
Uses in archeology
Radiometric dating (often called radioactive dating) is a technique used to
date materials such as rocks, usually based on a comparison between the
observed abundance of a naturally occurring radioactive isotope and its
decay products, using known decay rates. [1] It is the principal source of

information about the absolute age of rocks and other geological features,
including the age of the Earth itself, and can be used to date a wide range
of natural and man-made materials. Together with stratigraphic principles,
radiometric dating methods are used in geochronology to establish the
geological time scale.[2] Among the best-known techniques are radiocarbon
dating, potassium-argon dating and uranium-lead dating. By allowing the
establishment of geological timescales, it provides a significant source of
information about the ages of fossils and the deduced rates of evolutionary
change. Radiometric dating is also used to date archaeological materials,
including ancient artifacts.
Isotopic systems that have been exploited for radiometric dating have halflives ranging from only about 10 years (e.g., tritium) to over 100 billion
years (e.g., Samarium-147).
In general, the half-life of a nuclide depends solely on its nuclear
properties; it is not affected by external factors such as temperature,
pressure, chemical environment, or presence of a magnetic or electric field
Radioisotope Poisons
In 2006 Britain witnessed the apparent murder of one of its newer citizens,
a former Russian intelligence official, by poisoning with radioactive
polonium. His death was slow and excruciating.
Polonium has about 26 isotopes, all of which are radioactive. Webelements
periodic table says that it is 250 billion times more toxic than hydrocyanic
acid. It is readily soluble in weak acid. (It was the first element discovered
by Marie Curie, in 1898, and named after her native Poland. Her daughter
Irene was contaminated with polonium in a laboratory accident and died of
leukemia at the age of 59.)
Polonium-210 is the penultimate decay product of U-238, before it alpha
decays to become stable lead. It results from the beta decay of Pb-210 (in
the U-238 decay series) to Bi-210 which rapidly beta decays to Po-210.

This gives rise to its occurrence in nature, where uranium is ubiquitous.

However, because of its short (138 day) half life, very little Po-210 would
be found in uranium ore or mill tailings (Webelements suggests 0.1
mg/tonne). Po-210 levels in soil would be even less, but it is concentrated
in tobacco and traces of it can be found in smokers' urine.
Po-210 can also be made by neutron irradiation of Bi-209, and that is most
likely source of any significant quantity. Russia has used Po-210 as a heat
source in short-life spacecraft and lunar rovers. It also operates reactors
using lead-bismuth cooling, which becomes contaminated with Po-210 due
to neutron bombardment.
Because its half-life is so short, a gram of Po-210 is about 5000 times as
radioactive as a gram of radium - which sets the standard of activity. But at
138 days its half life is long enough for it to be manufactured, transported
and administered before its loses its potency. It would not put the carrier at
much risk, since alpha radiation is only really a hazard inside the body - a
layer of skin is protection. About 10 micrograms (2 GBq) was said to have
been used, administered in a cup of tea (it would be warm due to the
decay).
However, simply dosing someone with polonium might not have much
effect if it simply went in one end and out the other in a day or two without
being absorbed from the gut. It would probably need to be complexed on to
an organic carrier which would enter the bloodstream and take it to vital
organs where it would stay. (This is what happens with targeted alpha
therapy (TAT) using very low levels of alpha-active radioisotopes: the
carriers take them to dispersed cancerous tissues where they are needed.)
In Mr Litvinenko's case the intense alpha radiation was reportedly in vital
organs and sufficient to destroy them over three weeks. It was apparently
over one hundred times the dose used in TAT for cancer treatment and the
Po-210 is much longer-lived than isotopes used for TAT. It could have been
attached to something as simple as a sugar.

But in general, the half-life of any nuclide is essentially a constant.

Therefore, in any material containing a radioactive nuclide, the proportion
of the original nuclide to its decay product(s) changes in a predictable way
as the original nuclide decays over time. This predictability allows the
relative abundances of related nuclides to be used as a clock to measure the
time from the incorporation of the original nuclide(s) into a material to the
present.

The precision of a dating method depends in part on the half-life of the

radioactive isotope involved. For instance, carbon-14 has a half-life of
5,730 years. After an organism has been dead for 60,000 years so little
carbon-14 is left that accurate dating can not be established. On the other
hand, the concentration of carbon-14 falls off so steeply that the age of
relatively young remains can be determined precisely to within a few
decades
Basic Physics of Radiocarbon Dating
1
Three carbon isotopes are found in atmosphere: C-11 (98.89%), C12 (1.11%), and radioactive C-14 (10-10%) with T1/2 = 5730 +/-40
yr
2 C-14 is constantly formed through cosmic-ray produced neutrons
and its (n,p) reaction on N-14.
3 C-14 oxidizes to 14CO2and enters the plant and animal life cycle
through photosynthesis and food chain.
4 C-14 can be found in all living organism on earth with constant C14/C-total ratio

5 Death of living organism sets the clock and C-14 is depleted by

radioactive decay

Research Uses
Various molecular biology techniques e.g. dot
blot assay, restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP), single
stranded conformational
polymorphism (SSCP), amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP),
mismatch cleavage
assay, heteroduplex tracking assay (HTA), DNA sequencing, microsatellite
detection,
scintillation proximity assay (SPA), macroarray chip technology, isotope
coded affinity tags
(ICAT), etc. may use isotopes.
Microarrays can be used to detect thousands of genes using a single glass
chip with
immobilized probes, and fluorescence-based detection. However, this
technology remains out
of the reach of academic laboratories, due to the prohibitive cost of
equipment (about $200

000). In such settings, a relatively cost-effective method using nylon

macroarray chips and
radioisotopic (autoradiography) detection is a viable alternative. This is
amenable to smallscale
automation, with probes to a couple of hundred genes immobilized on each
nylon chip
Telomerase assay
Chromosomal telomere shortening is associated with cell aging and
senescence. Numerous
studies on telomerase, an enzyme which can elongate the telomere ends of
chromosomes led
to the increasing evidence that the presence of telomerase in cells that
normally lack it may
contribute to the uncontrolled cell growth of cancer. The TRAP (telomeric
repeat
amplification protocol) assay, allowing amplification of the telomerase
reaction product by
PCR, has advantages like speed and sensitivity, and involves the analysis of
32P-labeled
reaction products by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis [58].
Effects of radiation on humans
Radiation can have severe effects when it interacts with human cells.
Different types of tissue
respond differently to radiation; e.g. bone marrow and gonads are much
more sensitive to
radiation than brain or the skin. Cytological and molecular damage caused
by radiation may
manifest in the form of cancers, genetic mutations, skin reddening and
epilation. One

important hazard is the internal deposition in body tissues. Radioactive

materials cause most
damage when internalized by inhalation of aerosols, and by ingestion via
contaminated hands,
food, drink, and cigarettes. The exposure hazard depends upon the
complexity of the
procedure, the activity and the radiotoxicity of the nuclide. Terms used to
describe
radioactivity are detailed in Appendix I. Radionuclides can be classified in
one of four groups
based on their relative radiotoxicity.
Very

high radiotoxicity This group includes plutonium and other alphaemitting

radionuclides. These materials are not commonly used in biomedical
research laboratories.
High

radiotoxicity Radionuclides include 125I, 131I, 45Ca, 60Co and

137Cs, all of which are
not so commonly used in molecular research laboratories.
Moderate

radiotoxicity (1 mCi to 1 Ci or 37 MBq to 37 GBq). Most

nuclides used in
the molecular biology research laboratory fall into the moderate
radiotoxicity class,
including 14C, 32P and 35S.
Low

radiotoxicity (10 mCi to 10 Ci or 370 MBq to 370 GBq) This group

includes 3H,
99mTc, natural uranium and natural thorium. Only the former is relevant to
the molecular
biology laboratory.
The biological effect of a given dose of radiation depends on a number of
factors such as the
total time during which the various doses of radiation are received, the dose
rate during

irradiation and the type of irradiation. It is therefore necessary to take

stringent precautions to
protect users from suffering from these severe effects of radiation exposure.
The following
units have been defined to evaluate/quantify this exposure