Yttrium-90

Yttrium-90, 90Y, is a medically significant isotope of yttrium. Yttrium-90 has a wide and valuable use in radiation therapy to treat cancer.

Decay

90Y undergoes β⁻ decay to zirconium-90 with a half-life of 64.1 hours<ref name=LBL">"Y-90 Handling Precautions" (PDF). Retrieved 2015-07-15. </ref> and a decay energy of 2.28 MeV. It also produces 0.01% 1.7 MeV photons along the way. Interaction of the emitted electrons with matter can lead to Bremsstrahlung radiation.

Production

Yttrium-90 is a decay product of strontium-90 which makes up about 5% of the nuclear daughter isotopes when uranium is fissioned. Yttrium-90 is produced by chemical high-purity separation from strontium-90, a fission product of uranium in nuclear reactors.

See also

References

External links