99mTc by 99Mo produced at the ENEA-FNG facility of 14MeV neutrons

M Capogni; A Pietropaolo; L Quintieri; A Fazio; P De Felice; M Pillon; A Pizzuto

doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.10.015

^99mTc by ⁹⁹Mo produced at the ENEA-FNG facility of 14MeV neutrons

Appl Radiat Isot. 2018 Apr:134:105-107. doi: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.10.015. Epub 2017 Oct 8.

Authors

M Capogni¹, A Pietropaolo², L Quintieri³, A Fazio³, P De Felice³, M Pillon², A Pizzuto²

Affiliations

¹ ENEA - Department of Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security, Frascati R.C. Via Enrico Fermi, 45, I-00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy; ENEA - Italian National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology (INMRI), Casaccia R.C. Via Anguillarese, 301, I-00123 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: marco.capogni@enea.it.
² ENEA - Department of Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security, Frascati R.C. Via Enrico Fermi, 45, I-00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy.
³ ENEA - Department of Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security, Frascati R.C. Via Enrico Fermi, 45, I-00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy; ENEA - Italian National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology (INMRI), Casaccia R.C. Via Anguillarese, 301, I-00123 Rome, Italy.

PMID: 29066213
DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2017.10.015

Abstract

A severe supply crisis of ⁹⁹Mo, precursor of ^99mTc a diagnostic radionuclide largely used in Nuclear Medicine, occurred in 2008-2009 due to repeated shut-down of the two main (aged) fission reactors. An alternative route for producing ⁹⁹Mo by ¹⁰⁰Mo(n,2n)⁹⁹Mo reaction was investigated at ENEA. The experiment, designed according to Monte Carlo simulations performed with the Fluka code, produced ⁹⁹Mo by irradiating a natural Molybdenum powdered target with 14MeV neutrons produced at the Frascati Neutron Generator. The ⁹⁹Mo specific activity was measured at metrological level by γ-ray spectrometry.

Keywords: (99)Mo by 14MeV neutrons; (99m)Tc supply crisis; Fluka Monte Carlo code; γ-ray spectrometry.