Nafise Salek - Faculty of Energy Engineering and Physics, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Mojtaba Shamsaei - Faculty of Energy Engineering and Physics, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
Mohammad Ghannadi Maragheh - Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran
Simindokht Shirvani Arani - Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Introduction:Owing to its favorable radionuclidic characteristics, such as tl/2 = 6.73 day and Eβ (max) = 497 keV and ease of its large-scale production using medium flux research reactors, lutetium-177 (177Lu) is an attractive radionuclide for various therapeutic applications. No carrier added (NCA) 177Lu was obtained by thermal neutron bombardment (4×1013n/cm2.s) of 176Yb target through 176Yb(n, γ)177Yb        177Lu process have the advantage of preparing radiopharmaceuticals with high specific activity. So the existence of an effective Lu/Yb separation method is critical. Methods: Many researchers illustrated no-carrier added 177Lu production. However, the present study is based on comparison between two potential separation methods, namely extraction chromatography and electro-amalgamation separation with respect to separation yield and radiochemical characteristics. Results: The no carrier added 177Lu separated from 176Yb target by two extraction chromatography and electro-amalgamation separation methods. The effective parameters on separation Lu/Yb were investigated in two procedures. The 177Lu production yield by extraction chromatography and electro-amalgamation procedures were 82% and 88.83% respectively. The no carrier added 177Lu was obtained with radionuclidic purity of 99.99%   in two separation methods. Conclusion: Although both separation methods have exhibited promising feature, the study reveals that electro-amalgamation separation offers the advantages of higher yield of 177Lu, simplicity and easier to operate for large amount of target and less overall processing time.

177Lu, No carrier added, Extraction chromatography separation, Electro-amalgamation separation