Europium radionuclides in samarium-153-Ethylene Diamine Tetramethylene phosphonic acid (153Sm-EDTMP) radiopharmaceutical waste

Abstract

¹⁵³Sm-EDTMP is widely used as a palliative radiopharmaceutical for treatment of metastatic bone pain. It is produced by neutron activation of enriched ¹⁵²Sm targets in a nuclear reactor. The long-lived europium radionuclides are co-produced along with production of ¹⁵³Sm and it give rise to radioactive waste in ¹⁵³Sm-EDTMP production. The gamma radiation dose rate was found significant on the radioactive waste generated during the production of ¹⁵³Sm-EDTMP. Residual activity in six waste samples generated in different batches of ¹⁵³Sm-EDTMP production were analysed for percentage contributions of ^152,154,155Eu using gamma-ray spectrometry. ¹⁵⁴Eu was a major contributor with around 62%, and the other radioisotopes, viz. ¹⁵²Eu &¹⁵⁵Eu contribution were ∼29% & ∼9% respectively. The activity concentration of these long-lived europium radionuclides in samarium radiopharmaceutical production waste may be utilised for the dose rate estimation, and vice versa.

Keywords: (153)Sm-EDTMP; (154)Eu; Gamma dose rate estimation; Radionuclide impurity; Radiopharmaceutical.