Some health physics aspects of working with 203Hg in university research.

The radioisotope 203Hg is used in university toxicology research experiments. When our commercial vendor ceased the production of the high specific activity 203Hg we required, an alternative source was sought. Other commercial sources were investigated without success leaving the synthesis of this radioisotope to us. This paper outlines the method we used to synthesize 203Hg and provides a summary of our results to date and a discussion of our experiences.