Method of producing molybdenum-99
View Patent ↗Method of producing molybdenum-99, comprising accelerating ions by means of an accelerator; directing the ions onto a metal target so as to generate neutrons having an energy of greater than 10 MeV; directing the neutrons through a converter material comprising techentium-99 to produce a mixture comprising molybdenum-99; and, chemically extracting the molybdenum-99 from the mixture.
1. A method of producing molybdenum-99, comprising:
a) accelerating ions by means of an accelerator;
b) directing the ions onto a metal target so as to generate neutrons having an energy of greater than 10 MeV;
c) directing the neutrons through a converter material comprising technetium-99 to produce a mixture comprising molybdenum-99; and,
d) chemically extracting the molybdenum-99 from the mixture by dissolving the mixture in a basic solution of sodium hydroxide or ammonium hydroxide having a pH of from about 10 to about 11, and passing the resulting solution through an strong-base anion exchange resin wherein molybdate anion, MoO 4 2− is captured selectively and pertechnetate anion, TcO 4 − passes through the resin, thereby producing molybdenum-99.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the metal target comprises metallic beryllium, lithium, or combinations thereof.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the technetium-99 is in the form of solid technetium metal, pertechnetate, a pertechnetate salt, or combinations thereof.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accelerator is a cyclotron or a linear accelerator.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the accelerated ions are deuterons.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the technetium-99 is derived from spent nuclear fuel.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the molybdenum-99 is substantially isotopically pure, wherein substantially means greater than about 90% isotopically pure.