Contributors: Howard Greenwood, Samantha Ree, Tim Tinsley, Rachel Roberts, Laura Maray, James Dinsley
Published in Nuclear Future 22.4
Targeted Alpha Therapy (TAT) is an up and coming cancer treatment with great potential to improve treatments for many types of cancer by delivering radioactive atoms directly to cancer cells where decay leads to cell death with minimal effect on surrounding healthy cells.
Lead-212 (212Pb) is recognised as a radionuclide likely to be effective for TAT. 212Pb can be sourced from recycled (reprocessed) uranium (RU). The UK has significant stocks of RU; this could provide a sovereign source of 212Pb for the UK.
The United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL) has been developing a process to allow the extraction of 212Pb from RU.
Howard Greenwood MBE is a Principal Scientist at UKNNL with over 40-years’ experience in radiochemical separations across the uranium fuel cycle, including fuel production operations and effluent, waste, and residue treatment at theoretical and laboratory stages, though pilot plant operation to design, commissioning and operation of full scale plant.
