Mo-99 Production

TRIUMF task force report 2008

The above report suggests that

1.) you get about [math]10^{12} \frac{neutrons}{s \cdot kW}[/math] when a 30 MeV electron beam hits a converter like Tungsten producing photons which hit a 5 cm thick Moly target. A 100 kW electron beam could make about 800 Ci/s of Mo-99.

2.) The [math]^{100}Mo(\gamma, f)[/math] X-sect peaks at 160 mbarns when the photon energy is 15 MeV:(photofission of Mo-100 and U-238 have similar X-sections)

3.) single neutron emissions makes up about 60% of the photofission X-section [math]\Rightarrow[/math] [math]^{100}Mo(\gamma, n)[/math] X-sect is about 96 mbarns when photon energy is 15 MeV

4.) 40 million nuclear medicine procedures are performed each year, 20 million in the US. 80% of those procedures use Mo-99.

5.) The U.S. uses 6,000 - 7,000 6-day curies per week. 6-day curies = amount of Mo-99 left after 6 days ( half life is 66 hours < 3 days). [math]\Rightarrow[/math] 14,000 curies per week.