The grand opening of the new Isotope Production Facility beam stop at TA-53 on 1/12/04 drew a large crowd that included dignitaries from state and national agencies. Here, Tom Meyer of the Lab's Strategic Research Directorate cuts the cake. Standing behind him are Ralph Erickson, manager of the National Nuclear Security Administration's Los Alamos Site Office; Gov. Bill Richardson; Laboratory Director G. Peter Nanos; U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M.; and Bill Magwood, director of the Department of Energy's Office of Nuclear Energy, Science and Technology. The facility is the culmination of years of work by INC's IPF team. The Radioisotope Production Program has a team of 6 technical staff members, 5 technicians and 3 support personnel. See the Department of Energy's press release on the dedication. posted 1/13/04

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    Welcome to the Isotope Production and Distribution Program Los Alamos National Laboratory routinely produces substantial quantities of a number of radioisotopes during the operating cycle of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) accelerator. This accelerator is ~ 1 km long and generates 1 milliamp of 800 MeV protons. The new 100Mev The Isotope Production Facility extracts H+ beam from the transition region of the main accelerator beam line and directs it to a new beam line that delivers the beam to a modern target irradiation facility.

    Facilities100MEV Isotope Production FacilityThe new state-of-the-art Isotope Production Facility consists of an upper level and lower level facility. The lower level facility houses a new beam line and a target cave to shield targets during irradiation. The upper level facility consists of a hot cell for handling the irradiated targets and equipment to support the operation of the beam line. A shielded container is used to transport the irradiated targets from IPF to the TA-48 Hot Cell facility.

    Hot CellsThe irradiated targets are processed at the TA-48 Radiochemistry site hot cells. This facility consists of two series of six chemistry hot cells connected by a large multi-purpose cell arranged in the shape of a "U". These hot cells contain all of the normal equipment needed for chemical processing and mechanical operations and can be set up for any reasonable chemical or mechanical procedure. Access to and from hot cell to hot cell is provided by a electrical train system.

    Hoods/LaboratoriesThere are eight chemical fume hoods available in the hot cell isotope processing area for low level target preparation, processing and testing. In addition there are an additional 40 hoods available in 20 radiochemistry laboratories in the building.

    Glove BoxesA fully equipped facility for actinide handling is available and has both reduced pressure and inert atmosphere glove boxes available.

    Radiation Detection EquipmentA completely equipped counting room with capabilities from low levels (0.1 pCi of alpha) up to mCi levels in 70 different counting systems. Provisions are available for measuring x-rays, spontaneous fission, positrons and neutrons. Instrumental AnalysisThe radioisotope production program at Los Alamos has various analytical instruments available including Direct Current Plasma and Inductively Coupled Plasma AES equipped to handle radioactive materials.

    CapabilitiesThe Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group of which the Isotope Production Program is a part of has capabilities and facilities to handle from femtocurie to killocurie levels of radioactivity. All facilities at the Radiochemistry Site are User Facilities available for custom radiochemical/radioisotope production activities.

    Staffing The Radioisotope Production Program has a team of 6 technical staff members, 5 technicians and 3 support personnel. There is a total of 24 staff members and 17 technicians in the Nuclear and Radiochemistry Group available for technical assistance as needed.

    Other Related LANL ProgramsStable Isotope Resource(SIR) at Los Alamos is operated by the Bioscience Division. It is National User Resource funded by the National Institutes of Health. The Resource develops new chemical and biological systeheses of biological molecules labeled with the stable isotopes of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. These labeled molecules are used by scientists involved in basic research to answer important questions of metabolism and structure. More information concerning the SIR program is available from Dr. Cliff Unkefer, Principal Investigator.