Mo-99 Production Using LEU Targets

PROGRESS IN ALKALINE PEROXIDE DISSOLUTION OF
LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM METAL AND SILICIDE TARGETS

L. Chen, D. Dong, B.A. Buchholz and G.F. Vandegrift

Argonne National Laboratory
Chemical Technology Division
Argonne, Illinois 60439-4841 USA

D. Wu

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Urbana, Illinois 61801 USA

ABSTRACT

This paper reports recent progress on two alkaline peroxide dissolution processes: the dissolution of low-enriched uranium metal and silicide (U3Si2) targets. These processes are being developed to substitute low-enriched for high-enriched uranium in targets used for production of fission-product ⁹⁹Mo. Issues that are addressed include (1) dissolution kinetics of silicide targets, (2) ⁹⁹Mo lost during aluminum dissolution, (3) modeling of hydrogen peroxide consumption, (4) optimization of the uranium foil dissolution process, and (5) selection of uranium foil barrier materials. Future work associated with these two processes is also briefly discussed.

---

---