SudanInt

ernati
onalUniver
sit
y
Facul
tyofEngineeri
ng
Depar
tmentofBiomedi c
alEngi
neeri
ng
Fif
thYear–(2022-2023)
Batc
h( 05)
Ti
tl
e:[
Radi
oac
tivei
sot
opes
]

I
ntr
oduc
edby:

[
Afr
aaBas
heerEl
mahhalAl
i]
[EM-
15-
006]

[
AsmaaMohamdelTahhi
rAbdel
gadi
r]
[EM-
13-
017]

[
Sul
eimanSaeedYagoupMohammed][
EM-
17-
050]
Aradioact
iveis
otope(radioacti
venuclide,radioi
sotope):
Isanuc l
idethathasexc essnuc l
earener gy,makingituns table.Thi
s
excessenergyc anbeus edi noneoft hreeways :emi tt
edf rom the
nucleusasgammar adiati
on;t r
ansferred t ooneofi tselectronsto
rel
eas ei
tasac onvers
ionel ect
ron;orus edt ocreateandemi tanew
parti
cle(
alphaparti
cleorbetapar t
icl
e)fromt henucleus.

Duringthoseprocesses,theradi
onuc l
ideissaidtounder goradi
oacti
ve
decay.Theseemissionsar econsi
deredionizi
ngr adi
ati
onbec ausethey
areenergeti
cenought oli
berateanelectronfr
omanot heratom.
Radioact
ivedecayisar andom processatthelevelofsingleatoms:i
tis
impossi
bletopredic
twhenonepar ti
cularatomwilldecay.

Anat omi cs pec iesi sdef i

nedbyt wowhol enumber s:thenumberof
protonsi nt henuc l
eus( knownasZ,orat omi cnumber )andt het otal
numberofpr ot onspl usneut rons( knownasZ, ormas snumber ).
Isotopesar et heat omsi nanel ementt hathavet hes ameat omi cnumber
butadi f
ferentat omi cmas s;thati s,t hes amenumberofpr otonsand
thusi denti
c alc hemi calpr operties ,butdi ff
erentnumber sofneut rons
andc onsequent l
ydi fferentphys i
c alpr oper ti
es .
Isotopesc anbes tableor
uns tableorr adioisotopes.I nt hel atter,theirnuc leihaveas pecial
proper t
y:t heyemi tener gyi nt he f orm ofi onizing radi
ation whi le
searc hingforamor estableconf i
gur at i
on.
However ,forac ollectionofat omsofas inglenuc l
idet hedecayr ate,and
thust hehal f-life( t1/2)fort hatc ollection,c anbec alcul
atedf r
om t heir
meas ureddec ayc onstants.
Ther e are about730 r adionuclide’ swi th halfl i
vesl ongert han 60
mi nutes ( see l i
s tofnuc li
des )
.Thi r
ty- t
wo oft hose are pr i
mor dial
radionuc lide’ st hatwer ec reatedbef oret heear thwasf ormed.Atl eas t
anot her60r adi onuc lide’ sar edet ec tabl ei nnat ure,eitherasdaught ersof
primor dialr adi onuc lide’sorasr adi onuc li
de’ spr oduc edt hr oughnat ur al
produc tiononEar thbyc os micr adi ation.Mor et han2400r adi onuc lide’ s
havehal f- livesl es st han60mi nut es .Mos toft hosear eonl ypr oduc ed
artifi
c ially,andhavever ys hor thal f-lives .Forc ompar ison,t her ear e
about252s t abl enuc lides .
Allc hemi c alel ement sc anexi s tasr adi onuc li
de’s.Event hel ight es t
element ,hydr ogen,hasawel l-knownr adi onuc li
de,t ritium.El ement s
heavi ert hanl ead,andt heel ement st ec hnet i
um andpr omet hi um,exi s t
onlyasr adi onuc lide’s .( I
nt heor y,el ement sheavi ert handys pros ium
existonl yasr adi onuc li
de’ s,buts omes uc h element s,l i
kegol dand
platinum,ar eobs ervat ional l
ys tabl eandt hei rhalf-liveshavenotbeen
deter mi ned) ,r adi onuc li
de’ swi ths uitabl epr opert i
esar eus edi nnuc lear
medi cinef orbot hdi agnos isandt reat ment .Ani magi ngt rac ermadewi th
radionuc lide’ si sc al l
edar adi oac tivet rac er.
Nat ur al
OnEar t
h,nat ur al lyoc cur ringr adi onuc lide’ sfallint ot hreec ategor ies :
primor dialr adi onuc lide’s ,s ec ondar yr adi onuc l
ide’s,and c os mogeni c
radionuc lide’ s .
Radi onuc lide’ sar epr oduc edi ns tel larnuc leons ynthes isands uper nova
expl os i
onsal ongwi ths tabl enuc l i
desbec aus et heirhal f-livesar es ol ong
(>100mi llionyear s )t hatt heyhavenotyetc ompl etel ydec ayed.Some
radionuc lide’ shavehal flivess ol ong( manyt imest heageoft heuni ver se)
thatdec ayhasonl yr ec ent lybeendet ec ted,andf ormos tpr actic al
purpos est heyc anbec ons ider eds tabl e,mos tnot abl ybi smut h-209:
detec t i
onoft hi sdec aymeantt hatbi smut hwasnol ongerc ons ider ed
stabl e.
Itispos sibl edec aymaybeobs ervedi not hernuc li
des , addi ngt ot hisl i
s t
ofpr imor di alr adi onuc li
de’ s .
Sec ondar yr adi onuc lide’sar er adi ogeni ci sot opesder ivedf r om t hedec ay
ofpr imor di alr adi onuc lide’ s.Theyhaves hor terhal f
-livest hanpr i
mor di al
radionuc lide’ s .
Theyar i
s ei nt hedec ayc hainoft hepr i
mor dialisot opest hor ium- 232,
urani um- 238, andur anium- 235.
Exampl esi nc ludet henat ur alisot opesofpol oniumandr adium.
cosmogeni ci sot opes ,suc hasc ar bon- 14,ar epr esentbec aus et heyar e
continuall
ybei ngf ormedi ntheat mos phereduet oc osmi crays.
Manyoft heser adionuc l
ide’sexi stonl yint raceamount si nnat ur e,
incl
udingal lcos mogeni cnuc lides.Secondar yradionuc l
ide’
swi lloc c
uri n
proportiont ot heirhalf-li
ves ,sos hort-l
ivedoneswi llbever yr ar
e.For
exampl e,poloniumc anbe
foundi nur anium or esatabout0. 1mgpermet ricton( 1par ti n1010)
Furtherr adionuc li
de’smayoc curi nnat ureinvi rt
uallyundet ectable
amount sasar esultofr areevent ss uc h ass pontaneousf issi
on or
uncommonc osmi crayi nteractions.
Nuc l
earf i
ssion
Radionuc l
ide’sar epr oduc edasanunavoi dableres ul
tofnuc learf i
ssion
andt hermonuc learexpl osions.Thepr ocessofnuc learf i
ssionc reatesa
wider angeoff i
s s
ionpr oduc ts,mos tofwhi charer adionuclide’s.Further
radi
onuc li
de’sc anbec reatedf romirradiati
onoft henuc learf uel
Synthetic:

Art
if
ici
alnuc
lideameri
ci
um- 241emi
tti
ngal
phapar
tic
lesi
nser
tedi
ntoa
cl
oudchamberforvi
sual
izat
ion.

Syntheti
cr adionuc
lide’
s are del
iberatel
ys ynthesi
zed us
ing nuc
lear
reac
t or
s,part
icleac
celerat
orsorradionucl
idegenerat
ors:

radi
oisotopes can be pr
oduced del
iberatel
y wit
h nucl
earreactor
s,
exploi
tingt hehighfl
uxofneut r
onspr esent
.Theseneut
ronsact
ivate
element spl
acedwithi
nthereact
or.

At
ypi
calpr
oduc
tfr
omanuc
learr
eac
tori
sir
idi
um-
192.

Radionuc
lidegeneratorsc ont
ainaparentradionuc l
idethatdec aysto
producear adioact
ivedaught er
.Theparentisus uall
ypr oduc edina
nuclearreact
or.A t ypi
calexampleisthet echnetium-99m gener at
or
used in nucl
earmedi ci
ne.The parentproduc ed int he r eactoris
molybdenum- 99.
UsesRadionucli
de’
sar eusedintwomajorways:eitherfortheirradiati
on
al
one(i
rradi
ation,nuc l
earbatt
eri
es )orforthec ombinat
ionofc hemical
pr
opert
iesandt heirradi
ati
on( t
rac er
s,biopharmaceuti
cals
).I
nnuc lear
medi
ci
ne, r
adioisotopesareus
edf ordiagnosi
s,tr
eatment,andres ear
ch.

Us
ed in :In bi
ology,nucl
earmedi
cine,food pr
eser
vat
ion,i
ndus
try,
mi
ning,
astr
onomy, cos
mology,
andec
ology.