Abstract
Following a major shortage of 99Mo in the 2009–2010 period, concern grew that the aging reactor production facilities needed to be replaced. Most producers were using highly enriched 235U (HEU) as the target material. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the International Atomic Energy Agency sought to remedy these issues by removing HEU from medical isotope production and implementing full cost recovery to enable new production entities to compete with the existing multipurpose reactor facilities, which were heavily subsidized by their respective governments. This review examines the various approaches to producing 99Mo and/or 99mTc with a critical eye toward their potential success in ( a) producing the medical isotopes and ( b) being able to successfully enter and compete in the market. Because many of the new approaches are adapting existing technologies for commercial businesses, some of the details are of a proprietary nature and not available for in-depth technical review.
Highlights
235U thermal neutron fission yield curve illustrating the distribution of isotopes by mass and their respective yields from the fission
Over the last several decades, 99Mo was produced from the fission of highly enriched 235U (HEU) (>90% 235U) in multipurpose research reactors built for diverse nuclear programs in their respective countries
The High Flux Reactor (HFR) has labs in a separate building in Petten, the Netherlands, a short truck drive away, as does the Belgian Reactor 2 (BR2) in Belgium, which sends its targets for processing to the Institut National des Radioéléments (IRE)
Summary
The steps required at each of these sites involve target preparation and irradiation for about 6 days at their respective reactors. The HFR has labs in a separate building in Petten, the Netherlands, a short truck drive away, as does the BR2 in Belgium, which sends its targets for processing to the Institut National des Radioéléments (IRE). Once the 99Mo is separated and purified, it is sent to generator manufacturers. Shipment is within their respective facilities, while in other cases it can be to generator manufacturers at great distances. According to Paterson et al (10), the use of the term six-day curie is applied inconsistently: The calibration time is given variously as time since end of production, time since leaving production facility, or time since arrival at the technetium generator manufacturer (9, 10)
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