page_title: Hot cell
section_title: Nuclear medicine industry
hierarchical_section_title: Hot cell / Nuclear medicine industry
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Hotte avec vitre et paroi plombées dans un service de médecine nucléaire permettant la production et la mise en seringue du technétium 99m pour l'imagerie monophotonique
context_page_description: Shielded nuclear radiation containment chambers are commonly referred to as hot cells. The word "hot" refers to radioactivity.
  Hot cells are used in both the nuclear-energy and the nuclear-medicines industries.
  They are required to protect individuals from radioactive isotopes by providing a safe containment box in which they can control and manipulate the equipment required.
context_section_description: Hot cells are commonly used in the nuclear medicines industry:
  for the production of radiopharmaceuticals, according to GMP guidelines (industry)
  for the manipulation and dispense of radiopharmaceuticals (hospitals).
  The user must never be subject to shine paths that are emitted from the radioactive isotopes and therefore there generally is heavy shielding around the containment boxes, which can be made out of stainless steel 316 or other materials such as PVC or Corian. This shielding can be ensured by the use of lead (common) or materials such as concrete (very large walls are therefore required) or even tungsten. The amount of radioactivity present in the hot cell, the energy of the gamma photons emitted by the radioisotopes, and the number of neutrons that are formed by the material will prescribe how thick the shielding must be. For instance a 1 kilocurie (37 TBq) source of cobalt-60 will require thicker shielding than a 1 kilocurie (37 TBq) source of iridium-192 to give the same dose rate at the outer surface of the hot cell. Also if some actinide materials such as californium or spent nuclear fuel are used within the hot cell then a layer of water or polyethylene may be needed to lower the neutron dose rate.
caption: Hot cell in a hospital used for the preparation of Technetium-99m for use in single-photon emission computed tomography.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "Sunplus", "Image Make": "Sunplus", "Image Model": "Spca533", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2007:01:01 08:00:50", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "197", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "703", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "11597", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/20", "EXIF FNumber": "14/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:01:01 08:00:50", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:01:01 08:00:50", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "83/10", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "317/100", "EXIF MeteringMode": "CenterWeightedAverage", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "242/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2720", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2048", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "555", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "0"}