title: A strategy for intensive production of molybdenum-99 isotopes for nuclear medicine using CANDU reactors.
abstract: Technetium-99m is an important medical isotope utilized worldwide in nuclear medicine and is produced from the decay of its parent isotope, molybdenum-99. The online fueling capability and compact fuel of the CANDU(®)(1) reactor allows for the potential production of large quantities of (99)Mo. This paper proposes (99)Mo production strategies using modified target fuel bundles loaded into CANDU fuel channels. Using a small group of channels a yield of 89-113% of the weekly world demand for (99)Mo can be obtained.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street, West Hamilton, Ontario, Canada L8S 4L7. morreaac@mcmaster.ca
authors.forename: A C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Morreale
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Novog
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Luxat
mesh_terms: D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D008982:Molybdenum / Q000737:chemistry*; D009688:Nuclear Reactors / Q000295:instrumentation*; D011868:Radioisotopes / Q000737:chemistry*; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals / Q000138:chemical synthesis*; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000295:instrumentation*
chemical_list: D011868:Radioisotopes; D019275:Radiopharmaceuticals; D008982:Molybdenum