The Study on Molybdenum-99 Via Proton-Induced the Fission of Natural Uranium

The radionuclide Technetium-99m (^99mTc) has been widely used in nuclear medicine. It is known that ^99mTc is mainly obtained from the decay of molybdenum-99 (⁹⁹Mo). Most of ⁹⁹Mo used in China is imported from foreign country, causing an issue about the unstable supply of ⁹⁹Mo. In order to solve the major problem, realizing the domestic production of ⁹⁹Mo is of great significance in China. In this paper, based on China ADS Front End (CAFE) of Institute of Morden Physic (IMP), the natUO₂ target irradiation, the ⁹⁹Mo separation with high-efficiency, the purification of ⁹⁹Mo and the preparation of ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc generator were investigated systematically. The results of ⁹⁹Mo precipitation by α-benzoinoxime (α-BO) indicated that the removal ratio of other nuclides can reach more than 90% and the recovery of ⁹⁹Mo is also up to 90%. The results on purification of ⁹⁹Mo revealed that the most nuclides were nearly removed. The ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc generator has been prepared with extracted ⁹⁹Mo adsorbed on acid-treated alumina in a lead shield. The elution profile of ^99mTc from ⁹⁹Mo/^99mTc generator with saline showed that ^99mTc can be eluted in the 8 mL containing of ^99mTc >80%. Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometer（ICP-OES）analysis demonstrated that the content of Al, U, Mo is extremely low. The peaks of ⁹⁹Mo and other nuclides were not be observed in the gamma spectra of the ^99mTc eluent. The above results could provide useful information for the production of ⁹⁹Mo based on the accelerator in China.