Production and standardization of an on-demand protactinium-233 tracer

Protactinium-233 (233Pa) was generated by neutron activation of thorium and isolated by column chromatography using an octanol-impregnated resin. Absolute activity standardization was performed on 233Pa using three independent methods, the results of which agreed within their associated uncertainties. The standardized 233Pa was used to calibrate a secondary standard ionization chamber and high purity germanium detectors to enable a rapid and traceable method for the production and quantification of this radiotracer.