Preparation of carrier-free phosphorus-32 solution in High Flux Engineering Test Reactor

In this manuscript, the process to prepare carrier-free phosphorus-32 solution was studied through the nuclear reaction 32S(n, p)32P in the High Flux Engineering Test Reactor (HFETR). 0.25 g sulfur was used as the target and irradiated for 28 days at a flux of about 2 × 1014n·cm−1·s−1. After dissolution, extraction, and purification, carrier-free phosphorus-32 with high-purity was obtained. The solution was characterized by a radioactive impurity of less than 0.0001%, a radiochemical purity of 98.9%, a phosphorus content of 4.73 μg/mL, and a specific radioactivity of 1.54 × 1014 Bq/g phosphorus. The activity obtained was about 1.81 × 1010 Bq/g sulfur. The sodium phosphate[32P] solution meets the requirement of the 2020 P.R.C pharmacopoeia and can be used as a raw material to prepare sodium phosphate[32P] injection and phosphorus-32‑labeled compounds.