Recovery Efficiency of Enriched 100MoO3 Irradiated by Accelerator Neutrons

A 99% recovery of an enriched 100MoO3 sample weighing over 100 g was achieved for the first time after repeated separation procedures (milkings) by using a newly developed thermochromatography apparatus. Details of thedistribution of 100MoO3 deposited within the apparatus were investigated after the milkings, and then the 100MoO3 was recovered. The apparatus has also shown the ability to separate high-quality 99mTc from 99MoO3 with a high efficiency of over 90% under repeated milking processes. This result is a significant development towards the stable and economical production of 99Mo by the 100Mo(n,2n)99Mo reaction. The method can be applied to other 99Mo production technologies such as the 98Mo(n,γ)99Mo and 100Mo(γ,n)99Mo reactions, which use large quantities of MoO3