Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) Production

This project involves production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) which supports nuclear medicine for both imaging and functional studies of human organs. The project has national importance and was supported by US Department of Energy for close to $3,500,000 for University of Missouri Research Reactor and ITECH D&M. The sequence of operations and equipment needed for production of fission product Mo-99 is displayed in the following Figure The process of Mo-99 production starts by the assembling the target in phase 1 of production. In order to assure good contact between the foil and the concentric tubes (which is necessary for safe irradiation), a draw press is used to deform the whole assembly into an annular target. A hydraulically driven assembly press is developed to meet the objectives of sustaining required productivity at different countries in the world and meeting the needed quality and safety of annular targets carrying low enriched uranium (LEU) foils for production of Mo-99.