Radium needles that were once implanted into tumours as a cancer treatment are now obsolete and constitute a radioactive waste problem, as their half-life is 1600 years. The increasing application of Ac-225 for cancer therapy indicates the potential need for its increased production and availability. The reduction of radium by photonuclear transmutation by bombarding Ra-226 with high-energy photons from a medical linac has been investigated. The irradiated needles would then be processed to remove the Ac-225, which can then be used for ‘Targeted Alpha Therapy’ (TAT) of cancer. The research in this monograph investigates the possibility of producing of Ac-225 in commercial quantities, which could potentially reduce obsolete radioactive material and displace the need for expensive importation of Ac-225 from the USA and Russia in the years ahead. Scaled up production of Ac-225 could theoretically be achieved by the use of a high current cyclotron or linac.

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