Reliable fluorine-18 [¹⁸F^-] production at high beam power

Demand for ¹⁸F for the synthesis of the glucose analog Fluorodeoxyglucose ¹⁸F[FDG] and other radiopharma-ceuticals for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) has been increasing very rapidly over the past few years. Small volume (< 5 ml) liquid targets are routinely used for production of ¹⁸F and other radiotracers. Among other considerations, power dissipation is a key concept in the design of these targets to be able to accommodate over two kilowatts of beam power. In addition, plumbing, instrumentation and control of target operations have to be properly selected to perform well under harsh temperature, pressure and radiation conditions. An automated liquid transfer system for this type of targets was developed and has been in daily operations for more than three years at our facility. System reliability resulted in improved production, minimum maintenance and reduced radiation exposure to the personnel. A description of this system, its components, materials, instrumentation and software will be presented in this paper. Furthermore, reliability issues of previously existing components due to radiation damage will be discussed.