Investigation of neutrons' contribution to the practical yield of 99mTc from thick Mo-sample irradiation in 11-MeV cyclotron

AbstractThis paper considers secondary neutrons contribution to the yield of99mTc obtained from the thick Mo-sample via (p,2n) nuclear reaction channel. The physical yield was determined experimentally using 11-MeV cyclotron Eclipse RD with application of the new target assembly developed for solid sample irradiations and appeared to be 30.9  ± 1.3 MBq/μAh. The neutron flux over the sample was analyzed by MCNP simulations taking into account the construction elements of the target module and cyclotron self-shielding. The contribution to the99mTc yield by indirect production via98Mo(n, γ)99Mo  → 99mTc reactions was estimated.
Source: Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Category: Nuclear Medicine Source Type: research