Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
2005 International RERTR Meeting

THE IAEA COORDINATED RESEARCH PROJECT: PRODUCTION OF MO-99 USING LEU FISSION OR NEUTRON ACTIVATION

Ira N. Goldman, Natesan Ramamoorthy*, and Pablo Adelfang
Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology
*Division of Physical and Chemical Sciences
International Atomic Energy Agency
Wagramer Strasse 5, P.O. Box 100
A-1400 Vienna, Austria

I.Goldman@iaea.org, N.Ramamoorthy@iaea.org, P.Adelfang@iaea.org

ABSTRACT

Since late 2004, the IAEA has been planning and organizing a Coordinated Research Project (CRP) to assist countries interested in initiating indigenous, small-scale production of Mo-99 to meet local nuclear medicine requirements. The objective of the CRP is to provide interested countries with access to non-proprietary technologies and methods to produce Mo-99 using LEU foil or LEU mini-plate targets, or for the utilization of Mo-99 obtained by neutron activation of molybdenum trioxide target, e.g. through the use of gel generators. The work initiated with a significant consultancy meeting in Vienna directly following the RERTR 2004 International Meeting, and continued with a Mo-99 Potential Producers Workshop held in Buenos Aires, Argentina 17-20 May 2005. Five technology donor countries have been awarded IAEA Research Agreements, and five institutions in four countries have been awarded IAEA Research Contracts (a sixth institution is expected to be awarded a contract in the near future). The First Research Coordination Meeting (RCM) for this CRP will be held in Vienna December 6-9, 2005. The paper describes the background and history of the CRP, its planning and formulation, including the Buenos Aires workshop, plans for the first RCM, and the content of the project as well as the activities likely to take place over the next year. The results and experience gained from the CRP will help strengthen local capability for undertaking small scale Mo-99 production in participant countries.

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