Measurement of long lived radioactive impurities retained in the disposable cassettes on the Tracerlab MX system during the production of [18F]FDG.

Using a High- Purity Germanium gamma-ray spectrometer, a number of radioisotopes have been identified within Tracerlab MX radiochemistry system cassettes used to synthesise [18F]FDG. Twenty radiochemistry cassettes were measured and the average total activity of each radioisotope was determined. Using these values and decay correction, the minimum time the cassettes should be left in a decay store before the specific activity falls below 0.4B q/g, the limit for disposal alongside Clinical Waste was found to be 24 months.