Establishment of experimental system for Mo/Tc production by neutron activation method

Ishida, Takuya; Shiina, Takayuki*; Ota, Akio*; Kimura, Akihiro ; Nishikata, Kaori  ; Shibata, Akira ; Tanase, Masakazu*; Kobayashi, Masaaki*; Sano, Tadafumi*; Fujihara, Yasuyuki*; Tsuchiya, Kunihiko 

The research and development (R&D) on the production of Mo/Tc by neutron activation method ((n, ) method) using JMTR has been carried out in the Neutron Irradiation and Testing Reactor Center. The specific radioactivity of Mo by (n, ) method is extremely low compared with that by fission method ((n,f) method), and as a result, the radioactive concentration of the obtained Tc solution is also lowered. To solve the problem, we propose the solvent extraction with methyl ethyl ketone (MEK) for recovery of Tc from Mo produced by (n, ) method. We have developed the Mo/Tc separation/extraction/concentration devices and have carried out the performance tests for recovery of Tc from Mo produced by (n, ) method. In this paper, in order to establish an experimental system for Mo/Tc production, the R&D results of the system are summarized on the improvement of the devices for high-recovery rate of Tc, on the dissolution of the pellets, which is the high-density molybdenum trioxide (MoO) pellets irradiated in Kyoto University Research Reactor (KUR), on the production of Tc, and on the inspection of the recovered Tc solutions.