Nuclear Medicine

Jamie Leong

Introduction:
Radioisotopes are atoms with an ordinary number of protons but an irregular number of neutrons,
causing the atom to become unstable and emit radiation. Nuclear medicine is the application of
radioisotopes to the human body for diagnosis and treatment of various diseases. [5, 6]

The radiation emitted by the radioisotope can be a combination of alpha, beta and gamma radiation.
This is known as radioactive decay. Alpha decay is where the nucleus emits alpha radiation (a positively
charged helium nucleus), beta decay is when the nucleus emits beta radiation (an electron) and
gamma decay is when the nucleus emits gamma radiation (gamma rays). The radiation emitted and
the area of diagnosis/treatment directly influence the type of radioisotope used in medicine.

These radioisotopes can be produced in the OPAL reactor, located at Lucas Heights. It is a multi-
purpose research reactor produces more than 80% of Australia’s nuclear medicine.

The use of radioisotopes comes with nuclear wastes and must be manages to reduce damage caused
to the environment. This is done by cooling and diluting the radioactive waste so that the radiation
emitted is harmless to the biosphere and buried very deep underground. [22, 23, 24]

Syllabus Material:
Explain the basic principle of a fission reactor:

The fission reaction takes place within the reactor core, which contains the fuel rods and control rods.
The fission reaction heats up the primary coolant (normally consisting of molten sodium or molten
chloride) which travels to a heat exchanger to convert water into steam, turning the generator to
produce electricity. The coolant then circulates back into the reactor core, repeating the process. The
circulation of the primary coolant is closed, preventing any nuclear waste travelling outside the reactor
core and into the environment which can cause major damage.

A secondary coolant will be needed to convert steam back into water after operating the generator
and before returning to the heat exchanger, repeating the process. This coolant is normally water
taken in from a nearby natural source (river, pond…etc) and released back to its source when it has
been used. [1, 2, 3, 29]

[1, 3, 29]

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Describe some medical and industrial applications of radioisotopes:
Medical applications:

Iodine-123 is produced by proton irradiation of xenon-124 and is used to diagnose hyperthyroidism,

a condition where the thyroid gland becomes overactive. It emits gamma radiation and has a half-life
of 13 hours, making it a suitable radioisotope for diagnosis since it has a short half-life. It is given a pill
form where the iodine-123 will eventually end up in the thyroid gland where it will emit gamma
radiation for a radiation camera to detect and form a picture. From there, the doctor will diagnose the
patient.

The Iodine-131 is created from the neutron bombardment of technetium-130 with a half-life of 8 days
and is taken in the form of a capsule to swallow. Once ingested, the iodine will travel via the
bloodstream to the thyroid gland or any thyroid tissue within the blood stream and concentrate itself
there. It then starts to destroy the surrounding cells by emitting beta and gamma radiation. [4, 5, 6, 7,
8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

Agricultural Applications:

Phosphorus-32 a radioisotope formed by neutron bombardment of phosphorus-31 and is applied to

phosphate based fertilisers as a biological tracer to observe nutrient uptake by plants in the natural
and agricultural environment. When the fertiliser is provided to the plant, they would process the
phosphate radioisotope the same way as regular phosphate. Scientists can then trace the phosphate-
32 as it emits beta radiation to test the efficiency of the phosphate based fertiliser. [9, 16, 17, 18]

Engineering Applications:

Sodium-24 has a half-life of 15 hours whilst emitting beta and gamma radiation. Produced through
neutron bombardment of sodium-23, sodium-24 is used for detecting flaws in the structural integrity
of underground water pipes. Workers can apply the radioisotope is introduced into the pipe (in a
compound such as sodium-24) and is traced with a detector. If the detector picks up any radiation,
the workers will then know that there is a leak in that area. [9, 30]

Industrial Applications:

Strontium 90 is a beta radiation emitter formed from the nuclear fission of uranium. It is used in
industry to measure the thickness of materials formed (e.g. sheets of metal in a production line). This
is done by having a shield around the radioisotope, allowing only some of the radiation to escape. The
escaped radiation will penetrate the material being measured and is picked up by a detector which
can identify by the amount of radiation present, how thick the material is. [9, 13, 14, 15]

Describe how neutron scattering is used as a probe by referring to the properties of neutrons:
Neutron scattering is a technique that uses the wave properties of neutrons to analyse the internal
structure and properties of materials. It can be described as pouring paint on an object to identify its
shape – there is very little control and would need more paint to identify the shape than painting it
carefully with a paintbrush. Neutron scattering can be used to find flaws in the structural integrity of
metal welds, developing new materials (magnetic material used in computer data storage) as well as
the identification and study of viruses. [19, 20, 21]

Advantages of neutron scattering:

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 - Neutrons are not charged, thus a higher penetrating power since it doesn’t interact with
electrons
- Useful in probing small elements and proton rich materials as they have few electrons, making
it hard to identify using other techniques (electron microscope and x-ray scattering) as they
rely on the presence of electrons to work
- Good for probing the nucleus of an atom as the neutrons are able to penetrate the electron
cloud and reach the nucleus [20, 21]

Disadvantages of neutron scattering:

- Process is very expensive

- Process must be done in a nuclear reactor
- Very difficult to control the neutrons [19]

Discussion:
The radiation emitted by radioisotopes can be used extensively in medicine for treatment and
diagnosis of various diseases in patients. The OPAL reactor located in Lucas Heights is a multipurpose
reactor that utilises low enriched uranium to create a variety of radioisotopes for medicine and other
industries.

Diagnosis:

Common properties of radioisotope include:

- relatively short half-life to minimise damage to body (radiation is a mutagen)

- emits gamma radiation to penetrate body to hit the detector

Technitium-99m:

- emits gamma radiation

- half-life of 6 hours
- used to track abnormal blood circulations, lung function, bone abnormalities
- produced by neutron bombardment of molybdenum-99 [25, 26]

Iodine-123:

- emits gamma radiation

- half-life of 13 hours
- used to help diagnose thyroid diseases such as hyperthyroidism
- produced by the proton irradiation of xenon-124 [4, 5, 6, 7, 8]

Treatment:

Common properties include:

- longer half-life than radioisotope used for diagnosis to ensure the diseased cells are killed
- emits beta or alpha radiation to kill the diseases cells
- this also means that the radioisotopes will destroy healthy cells

Iodine-131:

- emits gamma and beta radiation

- half-life of 8 days

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 - used to treat thyroid diseases such as hyperthyroidism
- produced by neutron bombardment of technetium-130 [4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12]

Cobalt-60:

- emits beta and gamma radiation

- half-life of 5.3 years
- produced by neutron bombardment of cobalt-59
- used to treat masses of cancer cells [9, 27, 28]

The majority of these isotopes can be produced in the OPAL reactor in Lucas Heights. [9]

Conclusion:
Thus, nuclear reactors and radioisotopes play a vital role in an ever-growing society, saving and
improving the quality of many lives. Its diversity of use include a source of extremely clean energy,
treatment and diagnosis in medicine, biological trackers in agriculture and safety checks in industry.
However, the harmful nuclear waste, high cost and potential damage to society if handled incorrectly
must be addressed accordingly. Scientists are working every day to account for these problems to
make the radioisotopes even safer and beneficial to society. [1, 9]