Investigation of palladium-103 production and IR07-103Pd brachytherapy seed preparation

In this study, design and fabrication of 103Pd brachytherapy seed was investigated. The excitation functions of 103Rh(p,n)103Pd and 103Rh(d,2n)103Pd reactions were calculated using EMPIRE (version 3.1 Rivoli), ALICE/ASH and TALYS-1.2 codes, the TENDL-2010 database and compared with the published data. Production of 103Pd was done via 103Rh(p,n)103Pd nuclear reaction. The target was bombarded with 18 MeV protons at 200 μA beam current for 15 h. After irradiation and radiochemical separation of the electroplated rhodium target, the optimum condition for absorption of 103Pd into Amberlite®IR-93 resin was achieved at 0.5 M HCl. Version 5 of the (MCNP) Monte Carlo radiation transport code was employed to calculate the dosimetric parameters around the 103Pd brachytherapy seed. Finally the calculated results were compared with published results for other commercial sources.

► We report the cyclotron production of 103-palladium via 103Rh(p,n)103Pd reaction.
► 103Pd was absorbed on resin beads for brachytherapy seed preparation.
► The optimum absorption of 103Pd in resin was achieved at 0.5 M HCl.
► Version 5 of MCNP code was employed to model a new 103Pd brachytherapy seed.