Production of Tc-99m from naturally occurring molybdenum absent uranium

Abstract

Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) is the world's most widely used medical isotope. Current production methods involve the irradiation of highly enriched uranium (HEU) and low enriched uranium (LEU) targets in nuclear reactors. Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) is then extracted from these targets, which decays to Tc-99m. Currently, this process is centralized, as there are very few companies that manufacture Mo-99. In an effort to eradicate the need for uranium to produce this medical isotope, naturally occurring molybdenum was studied to produce Mo-99. Preliminary testing at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory included irradiating naturally occurring Mo coupons for varying amounts of time using a D-T neutron generator producing 1.5×108 n/sec to produce Mo-99. Exploiting this technique, Tc-99m was successfully produced. Proof of principle testing is also underway to confirm the ability to produce Mo-99 from Mo-100 using high-energy gamma rays. Future work consists of creating a mobile device that is able to produce Tc-99m on demand, allowing for a distributed system of the medical isotope in hospitals and radio pharmacies worldwide.