Actinium-225
Actinium-225 (Ac-225) is considered one of the rarest radioisotopes on earth. It is not naturally occurring and therefore needs to be manufactured. There are several technologies used to produce Ac-225 but none that can scale to meet commercial quantities. NorthStar’s method is capable of meeting customer demand.
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PRODUCING SUFFICIENT SUPPLY
TO MEET GLOBAL DEMAND
NorthStar is pioneering groundbreaking technology to produce commercial quantities of actinium-225 from radium-226 targets using electron beam accelerators. The process begins with the acceleration of an electron that collides with a converter. The converter absorbs the energy from the electrons, converting it into a high-energy photon that collides with the target material, removing a neutron from the nucleus of the atoms resulting in radium-225.
Next, a chemical purification process is completed removing all actinium, including actinium-227, leaving a purified radium solution. The purified radium solution is allowed to decay and produce non-carrier added (n.c.a.) Ac-225. This process substantially increases production capacity and flexibility due to multiple radium solutions being on-line simultaneously.