Measurement standards for strontium-89 for use in bone palliation

Strontium-89 standards have been prepared for use in calibrating instruments in the measurement chain from production in reactors to administration in the clinic or radiopharmacy. Alternate reactor production schemes were evaluated to yield high purity 89Sr with minimum 85Sr impurity. Following purification to remove radionuclidic impurities, samples of 89Sr were standardized by high-efficiency liquid-scintillation counting with a relative expanded uncertainty (intended to approximate two standard deviations) of 0.48%. A Standard Reference Material, SRM 4426A, was prepared and distributed to radiopharmaceutical manufacturers and other customers. The standard sources of 89Sr were used in different geometries to calibrate high purity Ge semiconductor detectors, re-entrant ionization chambers and commercial radionuclide calibrators. The latter included Capintec dose calibrators and the Capintec beta C NaI(Tl) scintillation counter.