ABSTRACT
A considerable focus has been paid to the production of 225Ac due to its effective therapeutic action in alpha-targeted radiotherapy. Considering the future global clinical demand, it is necessary to increase the production capacity of 225Ac. A feasibility study was conducted to investigate the production of 225Ac through neutron induced transmutation of 226Ra at the Egyptian Second Research Reactor (ETRR-2) using the MCNPX code. The calculations were carried out for 1 g of 226Ra target exposed to the highest neutron flux in the irradiation grid surrounding the reactor core. The 227Ra, 225Ra, 227Ac, and 225Ac generated activities as a function of irradiation and decay times were estimated. Our study revealed that in this non-linear production process, 39.22 MBq of pure 225Ac could be obtained after three days of irradiation, while 148.74 MBq could be obtained after fifteen days of continuous irradiation.
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses use of Monte Carlo simulations to facilitate testing and calibration of a gaseous effluent monitor (GEM). MCNP5 was used to simulate responses of the 131I and 41Ar GEM detecting units exposed to specific radioactive sources. The agreement between the MCNP5 predictions and experimental measurements is good enough to validate the MCNP5 model. It has been demonstrated that the Monte Carlo code is a powerful and useful tool to determine accurate detector responses and facilitate the calibration process of this type of the monitors.
