%0 Journal Article
%T History and Actual State of Non-HEU Fission-Based Mo-99 Production with Low-Performance Research Reactors
%A S. Dittrich
%J Science and Technology of Nuclear Installations
%D 2013
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2013/514894
%X Fifty years ago, one of the worldwide first industrial production processes to produce fission-Mo-99 for medical use had been started at ZfK Rossendorf (now: HZDR, Germany). On the occasion of this anniversary, it is worth to mention that this original process (called LITEMOL now) together with its target concept used at that time can still be applied. LITEMOL can be adapted very easily to various research reactors and applied at each site, which maybe still of interest for very small-scale producers. Besides this original process, two further and actually proven processes are suitable as well and recommended for small-scale LEU fission Mo-99 production also. They are known under the names KSA/KSS COMPACT and ROMOL LITE and will be described below. 1. Introduction ¡°The IAEA¡¯s Coordinated Research Project (CRP) on ¡°developing techniques for small-scale indigenous production of Mo-99 from low enriched uranium or neutron activation¡± has been working since 2005 to assist participating countries to assess, evaluate, and implement nuclear technology for producing Mo-99 without highly enriched uranium in order to meet local nuclear medicine requirements¡± [1]. Within that CRP, a fact-finding mission performed by experts of IAEA cooperating with other independent experts could be applied for such providing substantial help in analyzing the given situation at a research center and the country/region around. This paper describes two process technologies and one specially developed target the latter was especially suitable and proven for the use of very low enriched uranium, both supporting this CRP and its philosophy and tools at the same time. During the sixties of last century, fission Mo-99 began its significant upturn lasting up to today (¡°Fission-produced 99Mo (f.p. 99Mo) of very high specific activity and alumina column based generators have remained the mainstay in the field as ¡°gold standard¡±.¡± [2]), mainly due to the new cold KITs and their need of very high specific Tc-99£¿m solutions for labeling. About all research reactors, even those with thermal neutron flux densities down to , are potential candidates for small-scale fission-based Mo-99 production covering the local or domestic demand of [ ] pertechnetate solutions of high specific activity for nuclear medicine diagnostic imaging procedures with homemade Tc-99£¿m generators. Adequate LEU targets are commercially available. An indigenous production of LEU targets as well as of very low enriched targets ( ) is possible at local sites. Proven target manufacturing and Mo-99 processing technologies
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/stni/2013/514894/