Abstracts and Available Papers Presented at the
1999 International RERTR Meeting

PROGRESS IN CONVERTING 99Mo PRODUCTION
FROM HIGH- TO LOW-ENRICHED URANIUM--1999

J. L. Snelgrove, G. F. Vandegrift, C. Conner, T. C. Wiencek, and G. L. Hofman
Argonne National Laboratory
Argonne, Illinois, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT

Over this past year, extraordinary progress has been made in executing our charter to assist in converting Mo-99 production worldwide from HEU to LEU.  Building on the successful development of the experimental LEU-foil target, we have designed a new, economical irradiation target.  We have also successfully demonstrated, in collaboration with BATAN in Indonesia, that LEU can be substituted for HEU in the Cintichem target without loss of product yield or purity; in fact, conversion may make economic sense.  We are interacting with a number of commercial producers--we have begun active collaborations with the CNEA and ANSTO; we are working to define the scope of collaborations with MDS Nordion and Mallinckrodt; and IRE has offered its services to irradiate and test a target at the appropriate time.  Conversion of the CNEA process is on schedule.  Other papers presented at this meeting will present specific results on the demonstration of the LEU-modified Cintichem process, the development of the new target, and progress in converting the CNEA process.

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