NUCLEAR, PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL ASPECTS IN CYCLOTRON PRODUCTION OF RADIONUCLIDES

The cyclotron has developed into an indispensable machine for producti on of a variety of radionuclides. Several nuclear, physical and chemic al aspects are treated, with emphasis on their interdependencies, whic h are illustrated with examples. Attention is also given to production of short-lived positron emitters. These are of increasing interest, n ot only for clinical investigations, but also for technological resear ch. Finally, the cyclotron as a production machine is compared to the nuclear reactor. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.