Development of fission 99Mo production process using HANARO

Abstract

The widely used medical isotope technetium-99 m (99mTc) is a daughter of Molybdenum-99 (99Mo), which is mainly produced using dedicated research reactors from the nuclear fission of uranium-235 (235U). 99mTc has been used for several decades, which covers about 80% of the all the nuclear diagnostics procedures.Recently, the instability of the supply has become an important topic throughout the international radioisotope communities. The aging of major 99Mo production reactors has also caused frequent shutdowns. It has triggered movements to establish new research reactors for 99Mo production, as well as the development of various 99Mo production technologies. In this context, a new research reactor project was launched in 2012 in Korea.At the same time, the development of fission-based 99Mo production process was initiated by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) in 2012 in order to be implemented by the new research reactor. The KAERI process is based on the caustic dissolution of plate-type LEU (low enriched uranium) dispersion targets, followed by the separation and purification using a series of columns. The development of proper waste treatment technologies for the gaseous, liquid, and solid radioactive wastes also took place. The first stage of this process development was completed in 2018. In this paper, the results of the hot test production of fission 99Mo using HANARO, KAERI's 30 MW research reactor, was described.

Keywords

• Molybednum-99 (Mo-99)
• Low enriched uranium
• Medical radioisotope
• Technetium-99 m (Tc-99 m)
• Research reactor