Radioisotope-production facility at JAEA-TIARA used for medical and plant physiological research

A radioisotope-production facility at the Takasaki Ion Accelerators for Advanced Radiation Application (TIARA) of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) allows us to produce radioisotopes using accelerated beam from an AVF cyclotron. The facility has been constructed for research and development of potentially useful radioisotopes in medical research and physiological studies of plants. Experiments in these fields require a variety of radioisotopes and their labeled compounds during a limited machine time. Laboratory equipment has been designed and installed to treat high-level radioactivity and to irradiate a variety of targets (solid, liquid, gas....). The irradiation apparatus consists of two solid target chambers and a compact revolver equipped with six target chambers for gas and liquid targets, set on the movable table. It is possible to exchange rapidly and remotely the target chambers. The solid-target transfer system realized to carry automatically the irradiated target from irradiation position to the shielded-cell by a truck. Use of this facility enables us to produce routinely positron-emitting tracers for plant physiology and to develop the production method of carrier-free radioisotopes for medical use