Kaken ⁹⁹Mo-^99mTc Process

Extraction technique of 99mTc extraction from 99Mo was examined by the newly developed Technetium Master Milker (TcMM) method. For the production of 99Mo here, the 98Mo(n,g) reaction using neutrons generated by a nuclear reactor and/or the 100Mo(g,n) reaction using bremsstrahlung photons generated by an electron linear accelerator were utilized respectively. By this study, it has been proved that a highly concentrated pure pertechnetate (99mTcO4-) in saline can be separated and collected through the TcMM method. Procedurally, the TcMM method utilizes combined activated carbon (AC) and alumina (AL), with or without ion exchange resin (IER). The AC-AL process has used a highly concentrated Mo with low specific and large activity 99Mo of 3.0x1012 Bq generated by the irradiation of neutrons in the nuclear reactor, JRR-3 in Japan Atomic Energy Agency. It was found that a chemical yield and purity of the produced 99mTc are 90-95% and 6N (99.9999 %), respectively. Therefore, the TcMM method is able to generate a high quality 99mTcO4- that is eligible to obtain the permission of pharmaceutical affairs law. It is revealed that the TcMM method has the practical capability of the efficient 99mTc generator with a wide range from small amount level (kBq) to large level (TBq) per batch, furthermore, the main parts consisted of the AC-AL or AC-IER-AL columns system are simple and are able to collect pure 99mTc within 30 min automatically. Conclusively, 99mTc can be produced domestically and further locally on demand by the combination of the TcMM method and 99Mo with a low specific activity (produced from the 98Mo(n,g) and/or 100Mo(g,n) reaction, using a neighboring reactor and/or an electron linear accelerator without enriched uranium (HEU and LEU)), and furthermore, the advanced use for diagnosis can be available everywhere in the world.