Challenges of Extracting and Purifying Fission-Produced Molybdenum-99

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• 作者：Marion J. McDonald ; Susan D. Carson ; Gerald E. Naranjo ; and Jeffrey A. Wemple
• 刊名：Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research
• 出版年：2000
• 出版时间：September 2000
• 年：2000
• 卷：39
• 期：9
• 页码：3146 - 3150
• 全文大小：60K
• 年卷期：v.39,no.9(September 2000)
• ISSN：1520-5045

文摘

Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) has produced limited quantities of fission-producedmolybdenum-99 (⁹⁹Mo) within industry purity specifications using the Cintichem productionprocess. Molybdenum-99 is produced by the irradiation of a target which has an electrochemicallydeposited layer of enriched uranium oxide. The Cintichem processing method involves thedissolving the uranium coating from the target, chemically extracting the ⁹⁹Mo from the otherfission products, and purifying the product by column chromatography. The chemical extractionand purification of ⁹⁹Mo was performed using remote manipulators in the SNL Hot Cell Facility(HCF). To thoroughly understand the production process, two series of tests were designed: thefirst was a series of cold tests using 20 g samples of a depleted or low-irradiated uranium dioxide(UO₂) powder and the second was conducted using irradiated targets coated with ~25 g ofenriched uranium oxide. In addition, testing of radiation effects was performed at the SNLGamma Irradiation Facility on chemicals and hardware used in the processing to evaluate thedegradation due to the high radiation field expected during the chemical separation. Uniqueproduction hardware, fixtures, and tools were developed to facilitate remote processing ofirradiated targets at the HCF.