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US 9,318,228 B2Granted
Production of radionuclide molybdenum 99 in a distributed and in situ fashion
OwnerCharles A. Gentile, Adam B. Cohen +1inventors
InventorsCharles A. Gentile, Adam B. Cohen, George Ascione
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for producing Mo-99 from Mo-100 for the use of the produced Mo-99 in a Tc-99m generator without the use of uranium is presented. Both the method and apparatus employ high energy gamma rays for the transformation of Mo-100 to Mo-99. The high energy gamma rays are produced by exposing a metal target to a moderated neutron output of between 6 MeV and 14 MeV. The resulting Mo-99 spontaneously decays into Tc-99m and can therefore be used in a Tc-99m generator.
Claims6
A method of producing Mo-99 from a Mo-100 target, the method comprising:
- providing a neutron output with an average energy of between about 6MeV and about 14.1 MeV;
- moderating with a moderator the neutron output to produce a moderated neutron output with an average energy range of between about 6 MeV and about 14 MeV;
- exposing a copper target to the moderated neutron output to produce gamma rays of greater than 8 MeV, and
- exposing the Mo-100 target to the gamma rays of greater than 8 MeV to produce Mo-99 with a yield of approximately 7.7×10−6 microcuries per gram to 2.4×10−3 microcuries per gram.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.