Production of medical (99m) Tc isotope via photonuclear reaction

摘要

(99m) Tc with a 6 hour half-life is one of the most important medical isotopes used for the Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) inspection in hospitals of US, Canada, Europe and Japan. (99m) Tc isotopes are extracted by the milking method from parent Mo-99 isotopes with a 66 hour half-life. The supply of Mo-99 isotopes now encounters a serious crisis. Hospitals may not suitably receive Mo-99 medical isotopes in near future, due to difficulties in production by research nuclear reactors. Many countries are now looking for alternative ways to generate Mo-99 isotopes other than those with research reactors. We discuss a sustained availability of (99m) Tc isotopes via the (nat) Mo(gamma, n) photonuclear reaction, and discuss to solve technical problems for extracting pure (99m) Tc isotopes from other output materials of photonuclear reactions.