Photo-production of (99)Mo/(99m)Tc with electron linear accelerator beam.

Abstract

We report on the development of a relatively new method for the production of (99)Mo/(99m)Tc. The method involves the irradiation of natural molybdenum using high-intensity bremsstrahlung photons from the electron beam of the LUE50 linear electron accelerator located at the Yerevan Physics Institute (YerPhi). The production method has been developed and shown to be successful. The linear electron accelerator at YerPhi was upgraded to allow for significant increases of the beam intensity and spatial density. The LUE50 was also instrumented by a remote control system for ease of operation. We have developed and tested the (99m)Tc extraction from the irradiation of natural MoO3. This paper reports on the optimal conditions of our method of (99)Mo production. We show the success of this method with the production and separation of the first usable amounts of (99m)Tc.