Nuclear Medicine – An example of perseverance in scientific pursuit

August 1st marks the birth anniversary of the great scientist George de Hevesy, who
was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1943 (received in 1944) for his work
on the use of isotopes as tracers in the study of chemical processes. His work
significantly advanced the understanding of the chemical nature of life processes.

This incident is an apt example of perseverance & illustrates how an experiment

failure led to Nobel Prize. After nearly two years of trying & failing to separate an
isotope of radium from Lead, George de Hevesy decided instead to reverse the
problem. Instead, he "marked" lead with a radioactive isotope of Radium. This could
track the Lead's radioactivity. A century ago, around 1923, this new method was used
to monitor the role of Lead in metabolism, and this was the basis for the Nobel
Chemistry Prize. Using isotopes as tracers has become a critical tool in biological
and chemical research, and De Hevesy is considered as the father of nuclear
medicine.

India has also built a research reactor named ‘Dhruva’ at Bhabha Atomic Research
Centre (BARC), Mumbai with higher neutron flux to meet the growing demand for
radioisotopes and advanced research in basic sciences. The construction of
DHRUVA was an important milestone in the development and implementation of
indigenous nuclear technology in India. The reactor produces radioisotopes of high
specific activity. Dhruva, which attained criticality on August 8, 1985, has been
declared as a National Facility for Neutron Beam Research to cater to the needs of
the Indian scientific community where scientists from BARC, other units of the
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), universities and national laboratories work
under collaborative projects. It has the Reactor Power (Th) of 100 MW (Maximum)
and uses natural Uranium metal as the fuel material.

India is further looking to augment another Isotope Production Reactor (IPR) having
reactor power (Th) of 60 MW to cater to the needs of nuclear medicines. The
government of India, in May 2020, proposed to establish a research reactor in public–
private partnership (PPP) mode to facilitate the production of medical isotopes for the
treatment of cancer and other diseases among other usages.

The reactor will be designed by BARC & built by NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation
of India Ltd.). Once built, it will be sufficient for India’s requirements for a considerable
duration and will be able to export the isotopes to other countries for medical
purposes. On this August day marking the 81st anniversary of the Quit India
Movement, let us resolve to use advanced nuclear technology for getting rid of deadly
diseases like Cancer by proper diagnosis and treatment using safe practices.

Looking forward to having some role in this pursuit!

Further reads: www.nobelprize.org, www.barc.gov.in, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov, https://aptinfo.in

rajesh_itbhu@yahoo.com