**9. Production of radionuclides**

## **Generally**

Most radionuclides are produced using two types of instruments:

## **9.1 In nuclear reactors**

Through the fission, neutrons are generated of nuclear fuel or neutron-capture reactions on stable targets. These neutrons are then utilized to create neutron-rich radionuclides that typically decay through beta emission and are therefore appropriate for the aimed radiotherapy.

Meanwhile, Accelerators, in contrast, accelerate protons or other charged particles to induce nuclear reactions on target materials. During these reactions proton-rich radionuclides can be created that decay by positron emission and are therefore useful for imaging applications.

In the following lines, we are going to discuss the production of Radionuclides with more details.

The production of radiopharmaceuticals involves the handling of large quantities of radioactive substances and chemical processing. The radionuclides used to make radiopharmaceuticals are produced artificially, mainly in a cyclotron or in a nuclear reactor. The type of radionuclides produced in a cyclotron or in a reactor depends on the type of energy of the bombarding particles and the target material ([4], p. 5).
