Production of ⁷⁶Br at the cyclotron Cyclone 18/9

Positron emission tomography (PET) is an excellent tool for transport studies in geological matrices, applied in the risk assessment of future repositories of radioactive waste. Different tracers are required for these studies mimicking inert transport (conservative tracers) and adsorption/desorption phenomena (reactive tracers). Halides are promising candidates as conservative tracers in these experiments. Here, ¹⁸F and ¹²⁴I are well-established tracers. Unfortunately, the interaction of fluorine with calcium minerals and the complex oxidation behavior of iodine limit their use. In this context, ⁷⁶Br is an alternative candidate as conservative tracer. We established the target preparation, irradiation and processing and measured the spatial resolution in PET with a phantom for geological samples.