Test of production of 99Mo/99mTc by means of typical medical linear accelerators used in teleradiotherapy

Abstract

The test of production of the 99Mo/99mTc complex by means of Varian medical linear accelerators used in teleradiotherapy was performed. The targets made of the natural molybdenum were irradiated by high-energy therapeutic 20 MV X-ray beam. 99Mo was produced mainly in the photonuclear reaction of 110Mo(; n)99Mo. The obtained specific activities are relatively small in the saturation state (from 155.4 kBq/g to 163.2 kBq/g) because only the high-energetic part of the spectrum of 20 MV X-ray beam covers the energy range of the 110Mo(; n)99Mo reaction cross section. The new application of the 99Mo/99mTc complex of the low activity was suggested using the molybdenum nanoparticle technology.