Carbon-14, the gold standard for testing Helicobacter pylori, is actually related to nuclear power plants!

What is Carbon-14?

Carbon-14 is a radioactive isotope of carbon. When we usually say "carbon", such as common graphite and diamond, we generally refer to carbon-12, which contains 6 protons and 6 neutrons. The nucleus of carbon-14 contains 6 protons and 8 neutrons, which is different from the common stable isotopes carbon-12 and carbon-13. As a tracer, carbon-14 has the characteristics of simple method, easy tracking, low toxicity, high accuracy and sensitivity. It plays an important role in studying the distribution of substances, revealing reaction mechanisms, clarifying migration processes, and medical clinical diagnosis. It has been widely used in many fields such as disease diagnosis, new drug development, industry, and agriculture.

What are the applications of carbon-14?

Carbon-14 has a wide range of applications, including:

Medical diagnosis: such as Helicobacter pylori detection and pharmacokinetic studies.

Environmental monitoring: used to measure the concentration of particulate matter in the air, such as PM10 and PM2.5.

Scientific research: As a tracer in agriculture, chemistry, biology and other fields, it is used to study pharmacokinetics, chemical reaction kinetics, pesticide residues, etc.

What is a carbon-14 breath test?

The carbon-14 breath test is a diagnostic method for detecting Helicobacter pylori infection. The principle of this test is based on the urease produced by Helicobacter pylori in the gastric tissue mucosa, which can decompose carbon-14 labeled urea into ammonia and carbon dioxide containing carbon-14. By collecting and measuring the amount of carbon dioxide labeled with carbon-14, it can be determined whether Helicobacter pylori infection exists. It is an effective, convenient and non-invasive method for detecting Helicobacter pylori, which helps to detect and treat Helicobacter pylori infection in a timely manner, thereby maintaining people's stomach health.

What are the main methods of producing carbon-14?

In nature, carbon-14 is often produced by the interaction of cosmic rays with nitrogen atoms in the atmosphere. In modern industry, carbon-14 is mainly produced by neutron irradiation in nuclear reactors or by the reaction of neutron beams produced by high-energy accelerators with nitrogen-containing substances to meet the needs of scientific research and industrial production.

How does Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant produce carbon-14 based on heavy water reactor units?

Qinshan Nuclear Power relies on its heavy water reactor to produce carbon-14, mainly by placing specific targets in the heavy water reactor for neutron irradiation. After a certain period of irradiation in the heavy water reactor, the carbon atoms in the targets will absorb neutrons and transform into carbon-14.

Why choose a heavy water reactor for carbon-14 production?

The high neutron flux of the heavy water reactor unit makes it an ideal choice for the production of carbon-14. Compared with the current production of carbon-14 mainly relying on research reactors, the heavy water reactor unit of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant has maintained high-power stable operation for a long time, with high reliability, which can ensure the stable supply and safe production of radioactive nuclides, and the production cost is relatively low.

What is the significance of the Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant’s carbon-14 reactor being unloaded?

Previously, my country's carbon-14 was almost completely dependent on imports. This is the first time in the world that carbon-14 radioactive isotopes have been produced using commercial reactors, and it is also the first time that my country has achieved mass production of carbon-14. It will completely solve the serious shortage of domestic carbon-14 isotope independent supply and help build a "Healthy China". Not only that, the successful implementation of the carbon-14 project has also accumulated valuable experience for the promotion of other subsequent isotope projects and strengthened confidence in building an isotope production base.

What other processing is needed for carbon-14 targets after they are taken out of the reactor and put into medical use?

After the target is taken out of the pile, it is disassembled, carbon-14 element is extracted, and carbon-14 is solidified on the separation and extraction production line of CNNC Qinshan Isotope Co., Ltd. The carbon-14 in the target is converted into a stable barium carbonate compound, which is then supplied to the market for use in back-end pharmaceutical manufacturing, scientific research, etc.

In addition to carbon-14, what other achievements has Qinshan Nuclear Power made in isotope production?

Before carbon-14 was put into production, Qinshan Nuclear Power had already achieved the production of cobalt-60. Cobalt-60 is a radioactive isotope of the metal element cobalt, which can be used in many fields such as food preservation, industrial flaw detection, and gamma scalpels. Taking advantage of the short production cycle and large production scale of heavy water reactors, the cobalt-60 produced by Qinshan Nuclear Power can meet most of the domestic market demand and can be partially exported without affecting the safe operation and economy of the unit.

In addition, Qinshan Nuclear Power actively cooperated with relevant units to complete the development of yttrium-90 glass microsphere production targets and the research, development and installation of isotope production equipment, which effectively promoted the development of isotope application industry chains such as irradiation processing, nuclear-specific medical care, nuclear technology equipment manufacturing, nuclear medicine preparation, and diagnostic medicine, and helped build a national nuclear technology application industry demonstration base.

On the basis of achieving carbon-14 production, what are Qinshan Nuclear Power's plans and goals in promoting the development of the isotope industry?

Qinshan Nuclear Power is based on the national strategy, keeps pace with the group, gives full play to the advantages of its units, promotes scientific and technological innovation, and clearly builds an "isotope production base" to actively drive the development of the isotope application industry chain. By 2024, in addition to the existing industrial cobalt-60, medical cobalt-60, carbon-14 and other radionuclides production, Qinshan Nuclear Power can also build yttrium-90, lutetium-177, strontium-89 and other radionuclides production capacity. The production capacity is expected to meet domestic demand and make new and greater contributions to Qinshan Nuclear Power in helping to build a "Healthy China" and enhance people's well-being.