Article

A Mass−Production Processof a Highly Pure Medical Use ９９mTc
from Natural Isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo
without Using Uranium
Katsuyoshi TATENUMA, Koji ISHIKAWA, Akira TSUGUCHI,
Yuko KOMATSUZAKI, Yumi SUZUKI, Atsushi TANAKA,
Kiyoko KUROSAWA, Tomoya UEHARA, Yusuke HIGAKI,
Hirofumi HANAOKA and Yasushi ARANO

Reprinted from
RADIOISOTOPES, Vol.63, No.11
November 2014

RADIOISOTOPES ，６３，
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ArticleA Mass-Production Process of a Highly Pure Medical Use ９９mTc
from Natural Isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo without Using Uranium
Katsuyoshi TATENUMA, Koji ISHIKAWA, Akira TSUGUCHI, Yuko KOMATSUZAKI,
Yumi SUZUKI, Atsushi TANAKA, Kiyoko KUROSAWA, Tomoya UEHARA＊,
Yusuke HIGAKI＊, Hirofumi HANAOKA＊ and Yasushi ARANO＊
Kaken Inc.
1044 Hori-cho, Mito-shi, Ibaraki Pref. 310-0903, Japan＊
Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chiba University
1-8-1 Inohana, Chuo-ku, Chiba-shi, Chiba Pref. 260-8675, Japan
Received May 7, 2014
A new method to produce highly pure ９９mTc of maximum 500 Ci（1.85 e＋13 Bq）per batch from a low
specific activity ９９Mo made from natural-Mo（n, γ ）method is presented in this study.
Authors developed a novel procedure to provide ９９mTc of high specific activity and purity from ９９Mo with alow specific activity obtained by the（n, γ ）method. This process named TcMM（technetium master milker）
with a new principle found out by the authors involves the selective adsorption of ９９mTc onto an activatedcharcoal column, followed by an elution of ９９mTc by warm alkaline solution, and final purification throughan alumina column, which would be applicable to routine production of a large amounts of ９９mTc from natMo（with ９９Mo）within a short processing time and with a low cost.
By the experiment using a high radioactivity of ９９Mo of 1 e＋12 Bq levels, a highly pure ９９mTc free fromnat
Mo（with ９９Mo）was obtained in a sterile saline solution within 30 ― 50 min. as the chemical form of
９９m
TcO４−, and the average ９９mTc milking rate repeated 10 times got 93.5% and the radiochemical purity of
the range of 6 N ― 7 N.
In the labeling experiments using several radiopharmaceutical kits, ９９mTc collected from the TcMM process gave the target medicines in a highly radiochemical purity.
As the result of investigating the disposition behaviors of the above-mentioned ９９mTc-pharmaceuticals using small animals（mouse）, ９９mTc collected from TcMM gave the same result as it eluted from the conventional ９９mTc generator.
９９
The findings in this study suggest that the present method using natural isotopic ９８Mo（n, γ ）Mo reaction
would constitute as an alternative to the Fission Method using HEU to provide ９９mTc useful for clinical studies.
Key Words：technetium-99m, molybdenum-99, technetium master milker, production technology,
radiopharmaceutical, activated carbon

tices every year in the world, which represents

１．Introduction

approximately 85% of nuclear medicine diag-

Since the development of ９９Mo-９９mTc generator,

９９m

Tc has been used extensively as a diag-nostic nuclear medicine. Now, technetium-99m
９９m（

nostic practices.

Tc）is used in 30 million diagnostic prac-

Corresponding author
E-mail：tatenuma@kakenlabo.co.jp

（ ３ ）

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RADIOISOTOPES

Table 1

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１

Comparison of（n, γ ）methods as the viewpoint of ９９mTc master milker for
producing many tens and hundreds Ci

The majority of the ９９mTc used in the medical

mentioned as（n, γ ）method . The ９９Mo pro-work is produced by extracting the ９９Mo as one

duced by the（n, γ ）method has several advan-of fission nuclides from irradiated HEU（highly

tages over the fission method, such as freeenriched uranium）targets in a nuclear reactor,

from the use of uranium, smaller radioactive

called the nuclear fission method（hereafter

wastes and lower costs for production. How-

mentioned as fission method ）. The specificever, the（n, γ ）９９Mo has a serious problem ofactivity of fission-９９Mo is very high, e.g. 1.85 ―very low specific activity compared with the１
４

3.7×10 Bq（5 000 ― 10 000 Ci）/g（Mo）. Since atimes lower）, which hinders the application of

９
９m

９
９

small amount of Mo is loaded on an alumina
９９fission-produced ９９Mo（about 1/5 000 ― 1/10 000

９９column, the Mo-

Tc generator that produces

Mo produced by the（n, γ ）method.

９９m

Tc of high specific activity is available all
９９Table 1 summaries the generator system soover the world. However, Mo generated by

far proposed to separate ９９mTc from natMo（withthe nuclear fission method has the problem in９
９unstable supply as we have encountered re-being used to produce ９９mTc from ９９Mo of highcently. In addition, the major ９９Mo producing

specific activity by the fission method１）−７）. TheMo）or ９９Mo. The alumina/saline is currently

reactors were built in the 1950 ― 1960 s and are

Sol-Gel generator system would suffer from aclose to their end of lifetime. Furthermore,difficulty in producing high amount of Mo gel

HEU has the problem of the Nuclear Nonprolif-

and the resulting high amount of radioactive

eration Treaty, and efforts are made to switch

wastes１），８）−１２）. The MEK extraction method
might generate radiolysis products at highfrom HEU to lowly enriched uranium.
It is well known that ９９Mo is also produced

９
９

Mo/９９mTc radioactivity levels１），１３）−１６）. The sub-by the neutron activation reaction of natural

limation method requires a complicated large

Mo- Mo（n, γ ） Mo； Mo isotope

scale device for separation of ９９mTc in the form

includes 24.1% in natural isotopic Mo, hereafter

９９Mo） at highof Tc-oxide from natMoO（with３isotopic Mo,

nat

９
８

９
９

９
８

（ ４ ）

K. Tatenuma et al.：A mass-production process of a highly pure medical use ９９mTc
from natural isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo without using uranium

Nov．
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temperature１７）−２０）. In
２
１）
−２
３）

method503

PZC

the specific activity of 1.48 e＋10 Bq/g
（Mo）developed also by the authors

immediately after irradiation. The irradiatedaddition,

since
９
９m

Tc genera-

MoO３ pellets was dissolved in 679 mL of 6M-

tor with the maximum level of hundreds mCi,

NaOH solution. The chemical amount of thethis method would not be applicable to prepare

daughter nuclide ９９mTc present in the Na２MoO４

９９m

solution was calculated to be 10−１６ ― 10−１７ times

capacity of PZC to natMo（with ９９Mo）preparedlower than that of Mo.

was designed to prepare a small

Tc at higher radioactivity levels due to low

by the（n, γ ）method.

２・１・２ Activated carbon

In this study as how to collect ９９mTc from low
９９

In order to collect９９m

Tc present in thespecific activity Mo, authors show a new proc-（hereafNa２MoO４ solution, the activated carbon

ess named TcMM（technetium master milker）

ter AC ）column was used in packing AC of 5which means the production of large amount ofg, which is Shirasagi-charcoal as palm shell raw

９９m

Tc is composed of 6 steps as follows ; 1）dis-

material, LH2c 20/48 ss（particle size : 0.30 ― 0.85

solve neutron irradiated natural isotopic MoO３mm）made by Japan-Environment Chemicals

９９contained Mo generated by alkali（NaOH）solution, 2）adsorb

９９m

Co（Osaka, Japan）.

Tc specifically in activated

２・１・３ Activated alumina
In order to purify the recovered ９９mTc, thecarbon（AC）column by feeding the natMo（with９９Mo）solution, 3）rinse out natMo（with ９９Mo）

activated alumina（hereafter AL ）column forTc from the AC, and raremoving trace amount of natMo（９９Mo）

column using a warm alkali solution, 5）adjust

dioactive niobium and other impurities gener-

the pH by flowing acid alumina colum andated from molybdenum stable isotopes wasremained in the AC, 4）elute

Tc solution, and 6）

used in packing AL of 5 g, which is made by

Tc by flowing again an-

MP Biochemicals（Santa Ana, CA, USA）
, Cat.

NaCl concentration of thecollect highly pure

９
９m

９
９m

９
９m

No.06031 with particle size of 0.063 ― 0.20 mmother alumina column.

and pH 4.3（acid alumina）.

２． Materials and methods

２・１・４ ９９mTc radiopharmaceuticals

２・１ Materials

In order to measure the NaCl concentration,

In the following experiments, common highpH and the radiochemical purity of collected
９９m

Tc solution, the NaCl concentration meter

purity reagents were used.
９９２・１・１ Preparation of a sample Mo solution

with measurement reliability 0.02% NaCl（TOA

The Mo was generated by the Mo（n, γ ）DKK MM-60 R/CT-57101 B, Tokyo, Japan）,

reaction of a natural isotopic Mo compound（ac-and pH meter（TOA DKK RM-31 P/ELP 035）

tually, MoO３ ; 99.9% purity, made by Taiyo-

and Ge semiconductor detector（ORTEC GMX-

Koukou Co., Tokyo, Japan）irradiated by the

20190-P-PLUS, Oak Ridge, TN, USA） were

neutron in the nuclear reactor（JRR-3 atomic

used respectively.

９
９

９
８

reactor, Japan Atomic Energy Agency）. By

Next, in order to confirm the chemical form

the neutron irradiation for 7 days of MoO３ 15

and quality as the radiopharmaceutical of ９９mTc

pellets sintered by Spark Plasma Sintering

recovered from TcMM process by comparing２
４）of total 293.4 g（195.6 g as Mo）, thethe conventional ９９mTc generator, several ana-

generated ９９Mo was total 2.99 e＋12 Bq withlytical methods such as γ -TLC（thin layer chro-method

（ ５ ）

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Fig．
１ Composition of experimental apparatus for ９９mTc collection.

matography with γ -ray detector ; γ -mini GITA

phonate）and Tetrofosmin, which were pur-Star, Raytest, Strubenhardt, Germany）, CAE

chased from Nihon Medi-Physics and Fujifilm（Cellulose Acetate film Electrophoresis）, RP-

RI Pharma（both ; Tokyo, Japan）.

HPLC（Reversed Phase-High Performance LiqChromatography ; Hitachi-L2130/Ratest-

２・２ Methods―Experimental method and

GABI Star, Tokyo Japan and Strubenhardt,

its apparatus for confirming ９９mTc col-Germany） with Unison US-C18 column andlection process

uid

Com-

The basic process of ９９mTc collection fromputed Tomography/CT ; Triumph SPECT4/O４ solution consisted in 6
the Na２Mo（９９Mo）

CT, TriFoil Imaging Inc., Chatsworth, CA,

steps as shown below, and the outline of the ex-USA）were performed by the labeling experi-

perimental apparatus used for the confirmation

SPECT/CT（SinglePhotonments using the conventional

Emission

９９m

Tc generators,of ９９mTc collection process is shown in Fig．1.

radiopharmaceutical kits of MAG（mercap３

The verification outcome of each steps of９９m

Tc collection

toacetylglycylglycylglicine）, HM-PAO（hexa-

TcMM process（6 steps） for

methylpropyleneamine oxine）, MIBI（metho-

from（n, γ ） Mo is described below.

xyisobutylisonitrile）, MDP（methylene diphos（ ６ ）９９solution
Step-1）Making the natMo（with ９９Mo）

K. Tatenuma et al.：A mass-production process of a highly pure medical use ９９mTc
from natural isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo without using uranium

Nov．
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１
４

505

rinsed out, it causes the contamination of natMoby dissolving raw material MoO３
MoO３ dissolves completely according to the（with ９９Mo）by mixing in ９９mTc collection liquidacid-base reaction［MoO３＋2NaOH→Na２MoO４

in the following ９９mTc elution collection steps.

＋H２O］with alkali（NaOH）of the double molar

In order to remove the contamination ofMo（with ９９Mo）remained in AC, by the se-amounts, and becomes the Mo solution of thenatneutral pH. Therefore, by adding the double

quential treatments flowing firstly H２O of 100

molar amounts of 6M-NaOH 679 mL to the irra-mL for 4 min., next 1.3M-NaOH solution of 30（Mo 195.6 g）condiated MoO３ pellets of 293.4 g

mL for 10 min., and finally again H２O of 5 mL

tained ９９Mo radioactivity of 2.99 e＋12 Bq meas-for 1 min. This treatment can remove Mo lessured by Ge semiconductor detector, it becomesthan approximately 5 mg in AC, and moreovertransparent colorless solution of the neutral pH,

it serves as the alkali impregnation operation

then the Na２MoO４ solution of 1 L adjusted byto the AC column adsorbed ９９mTc for next Tc

adding H２O is prepared.

recovery process as step-4.

Step-2）Adsorbing collection of

９
９m

Tc in

nat

Step-4）９９mTc elution from AC column

Mo（with ９９Mo）solution

After rinsing out remained natMo（with ９９Mo）

The Na２MoO４ solution 1 L contained large

contamination, the AC column is heated up toamount of natMo（with ９９Mo）is flowed into the

０mL are flowed into the
80 ℃, then H２O of ３

AC column packed with crushed activated car-AC column by the flow rate of ５mL/min. By

bon of 5 g（packing size : 10.2 mm ×141 mmH）

this procedure, a little alkaline solution con-at the flow velocity of 21 ― 50 mL/min measur-

tained ９９mTc of the whole quantity mostly can

ing with a flow meter in the condition of up-

be collected.

!

ward flow. Even if the maximum velocity of 50
mL/min,９９m

Tc of 98% or more in the

nat

Mo

Step-5）Adjustment of pH and NaCl density
of

９
９

９
９m

Tc eluted solution（with Mo） solution is selectively adsorbed

The eluted alkaline solution（30 mL） con-into the AC column and the adsorption phe-tained ９９mTc collected by the treatment of step-nomena have superior reproducibility.

4 is mixed 30%-NaCl of 5 mL and adjusted to be

It can be understood that the AC has an ex-

pH neutral by flowing in AL（6 g, packing size :cellent adsorption property by the reason why

10.2 mm ×76 mmH）column. It is also a meritthe ９９mTc of extremely small amount of 10−１６ ―using acid alumina that pH is neutrally control-

10−１７ against Mo（200 g）is selectively and al-lable only by flowing to the AL column by itself.

!

Step-6）９９mTc purification

most adsorbed with high efficiency under thehigh column velocity of natMo（with ９９Mo）solution.

After step-5, further the AL column is rinsed
by 0.9%-NaCl of 10 mL, then the saline（40 mL）

Step-3）Rinse out natMo（９９Mo）from AC adsorbed with ９９mTc

contained ９９mTc and 0.9%-NaCl of 15 mL are sequentially flowed again in a new AL（10 g :

nat

９
９

!

Mo（with Mo）

packing size : 10.2 mm ×126 mmH） column

solution in AC column, though Mo does not ad-

for advanced refining treatment. The dynamic

sorb in it, it cannot be avoided that as much as

adsorption rate of ９９Mo to alumina doesn t

approximately 0.5 ― 1.0 g of Mo remains in thechange so much even if flowing velocity

micro hole of AC. If a remained Mo in AC is notchanges, and the whole quantity of natMo（with

By flowing a high density

（ ７ ）

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RADIOISOTOPES

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９９
Fig．
２ Repeatability of ９９mTc collection from highly radioactive（n, γ ）
Mo.

９
９

Mo）is adsorbed from the column entrance totion contained（n, γ ）９９Mo.

about 20 mm. Moreover, the loss of adsorbed

It is possible to operate the TcMM process

９９m

Tc in the step of AL column purification was

automatically, and it can expect the stable pro-

5% or less. By this procedure, the collected

duction and high quality of ９９mTc by automatic

９９m

operation.

Tc solution purified by the alumina is saline（0.9%-NaCl）with the pH neutral, and the radio-

３． Resultschemical purity is 4N（99.99%）or more.

３・１ Recovery rate and producing time of

According to the regulation of the Japanese

９
９m

Tc

pharmacopoeia, the NaCl concentration and pH
Tc solution are within

The amount of initial radioactivity of ９９Mo

NaCl 0.85 ― 0.95% and pH 4.5 ― 7.0 respectively,

began on 1 e＋12 Bq levels, and the ９９mTc milk-

and it must not contain other different nuclides.

ing was performed once a day and repeatedvalue of collected

９９m

The quality and chemical form of collected

the operation 10 times. By the results, the rate

９９m

Tc were evaluated by γ -TLC using acetoneof an average ９９mTc collection became 93.5% as

as the developmental solvent, electrophoresis

shown in Fig．2.

and HPLC, furthermore the labeling experi-

The recovery rate of ９９mTc was not influ-

ment using radiopharmaceutical kits were per-enced by the radioactivity of ９９Mo or ９９mTc fromformed to confirm the qualities and to observe, andmicro-Ci level to 50 Ci（e＋4 ― 2 e＋12 Bq）

the disposition behavior in a small animal. The

the recovery rate of 90 ― 98% was stably ob-

Tc solution

tained. The producing time of ９９mTc is 30 ― 50

was measured and evaluated after disintegra-min. per batch influenced by the liquid volume

radiochemical purity of collectedtion of

９
９m

９
９m

solution.
of Mo（９９Mo）

Tc.

According to the basic

９９m

Tc recovery proc-

ess consisted in the above-mentioned six steps,

３・２ Quality confirmation of collected ９９mTc

a large amount of highly pure ９９mTc is collect-

As shown in Fig．
2, the radiochemical purity

able from a large amount of molybdenum solu-of collected ９９mTc was set to 6 N ― 7 N on the

（ ８ ）

Nov．
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K. Tatenuma et al.：A mass-production process of a highly pure medical use ９９mTc
from natural isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo without using uranium

507

Fig．
３ γ -spectra of Mo（９９Mo）, and ９９mTc collected by TcMM process.

generator system. The result in case of ９９mTc-

average, although the start was 4 N.
The Mo（９９Mo）solution has many kinds of ra-

HMPAO is shown in Fig．
5.

dioactive impurities such as radioactive nio-

Further, ９９mTc-HMPAO and ９９mTc-MIBI us-

bium（９２mNb, ９５Nb and ９６Nb generated from Mo

ing ９９mTc from Tc-MM demonstrated SPECT/

６０stable isotopes）and other radionuclides（ Co,

CT images of murine brain and heart similar to

１
８
７

９
９m

Tc

those obtained from each radiopharmaceuticalsolution treated by TcMM process has neverusing generator eluted ９９mTc, as shown in Fig．6

such impurities including ９９Mo, as shown in Fig．

（a）and
（b）.

W,

１
９
８

Au, etc.）, however the collected3.
The γ -TLC and CAE analyses showed that

３・３ Wastes accompanying ９９mTc produc-the collected ９９mTc exhibited a single peak at a
Rf values similar to those of

９
９m

tion

−
４

In the case of ９９Mo amount mentioned above,

TcO , and it
−
４

TcO

the radioactive wastes generated in the TcMM

９
９m

Tc

process are the rinsing liquid of 30 ― 300 mL/dmade from Fission- Mo raw material, and not

stock solution of 2（batch）and the Mo（９９Mo）

to contain other forms, as shown in Fig．4（ γ -L/w after disintegrated ９９Mo radioactivity as

TLC）.

the liquid wastes, furthermore the solid waste

was confirmed a single form of

９９m（pertechnetate）as well as the form of
９９The labeling experiments using radiopharmaceutical kits of
９
９m

９
９m

Tc-HMPAO and

Tc-tetrofosmin,

９
９m

９
９m

Tc-MAG３ using

Tc-MIBI,

are AC of 0.5 ― 5 g/batch and AL of 1 ― 20 g/batch.

９９m

Tc col-

It is judged that such quantity of the gener-

lected from the TcMM provided TLC, RP-

ated waste is not so extensive from comparison

HPLC and CAE profiles similar to those ofwith other methods.

９９m

Tc-labeled radiopharmaceuticals prepared

with

９
９m

９
９

９
９m

Tc solutions eluted from Mo/

Tc

From the all-inclusive TcMM development
result shown in Table 2, the ９９mTc mass-produc-

（ ９ ）

508

RADIOISOTOPES

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Fig．
４ γ -TLC data of ９９mTc collected from TcMM and 2 kinds of conventional
９９m
Tc generator.

ing TcMM process using natural isotopic Mo（n,process was developed based on the extremely-γ ）９９Mo has the capability which be equivalent

numerous experiments of trial and error.

to the conventional fission method and can re４・１ Exclusion performance of neutron acti-

place it.

vated impurities

４． Discussion

The natural isotopic Mo consists of seven

The development of TcMM process wasstarted at an accidental discovery of rhenium

kinds of stable isotopes（９２Mo, ９４Mo, ９５Mo, ９６Mo,
９
７

Mo, ９８Mo, １００Mo）, and only ９８Mo（the natural（Re）selective adsorption phenomenon to AC ;abundance : 24.1%）in that is available for ９９Mo

the chemical property of Re is almost equiva-

production. By the neutron irradiation of the

９
９m

Tc

natural isotopic MoO３, the radioactive niobium

producing method from natural isotopic Mo（n,of ９２mNb, ９５Nb, and ９６Nb generates from the sta-９９γ）
Mo without using uranium, the TcMM

ble isotopes of ９２Mo, ９５Mo and ９６Mo, respectively,

lent to Tc. In order to develop a practical（ １０ ）

Nov．
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K. Tatenuma et al.：A mass-production process of a highly pure medical use ９９mTc
from natural isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo without using uranium

509

Fig．
５ HPLC data of HMPAO labeled with 99mTc collected from TcMM
and 2 kinds of conventional 99mTc generator.

and other radioactive impurities, e.g. ６０Co, ６５Zn,

AC adsorbing phenomenon of an extremely

８
６

Rb, and １３４Cs, etc., generate from impurities insmall amount of ９９mTc（９９mTcO４−）in a high den-

Mo raw material.

sity Mo solution in this study is well-reap-

Although many impurities, such as radioac-

peared.
In addition, in order to desorb the ９９mTc ad-

tive Nb generated from stable Mo isotopes and
６
０

６
５

other radioactive impurities, e.g. Co, Zn, etc.,

sorbed in AC, it is possible to desorb it by mak-

９
９

Tc

ing the concentration gradient of NaOH sur-

Tc which does notrounding AC after occlusion of a higher con-contain these impurities by the TcMM processcentrated NaOH. The assumption of theis recoverable.

mechanism of adsorption and desorption be-

are contained in Mo（ Mo）solution for
production, a highly pure

９
９m

９
９m

7.
tween the AC and ９９mTc is shown in Fig．
４・２ Assumption of the mechanism regard９９m

ing the AC adsorption of

Tc in highdensity Mo（９９Mo）solution, and desorp-

Moreover, the adsorption isotherm measured as Freundlich type between the AC andRe（９９mTc）is shown in Fig．8.

tion from AC
The principle of selective adsorption with
the AC of ９９mTc is uncertain yet. However, the（ １１ ）

５． Conclusion
From the development results regarding

510

RADIOISOTOPES

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１

（a）

（b）

９９m
９９m
Fig．
６ SPECT/CT image of mice injected with（a）
Tc-HMPAO and（b）
TcMIBI.

TcMM process of ９９mTc mass-producing method,

waste and a low production cost.

９９m

Tc quality and the waste generation accom-

Therefore, it seems that it becomes a big fac-panying ９９mTc production, the TcMM process

tor growing the nuclear medicine diagnosis up

has the ability as the practical ９９mTc mass-pro-

to spread in the developing country where theduction method with the large production ca-

medical procedure will progress in the future,

pacity of several tens or hundreds Ci（1 e＋12 ―and the social significance and value may be

13 Bq）per batch.

high.
Since ９９mTc recovery method of this study

View

can be used to a low specific activity ９９Mo gen-

Recently, the uncertainty of the stable pro-erated by using a natural isotopic Mo or a spe-

duction and supply of Fisson-９９Mo is being in-cific concentration Mo isotope as raw materials,

creased. On the other hand, the production ofeither the method of carrying out neutron irra-（n, γ ） Mo without using uranium as raw mate-diation at a nuclear reactor or the method of ir-

rial has the feature with not-generating nuclear

radiating by an accelerator neutron source is９９（ １２ ）

Nov．
２
０
１
４

K. Tatenuma et al.：A mass-production process of a highly pure medical use ９９mTc
from natural isotopic Mo（n, γ ）９９Mo without using uranium
９９
Table２ Evaluation of TcMM process for mass-producing ９９mTc from（n, γ ）Mo

Fig．
７ Assuming mechanism of adsorption and desorption（elution）
of ９９mTc.

adsorbing to AC.
Fig．
８ Isothermal curve of Re（９９mTc）（ １３ ）

511

512

RADIOISOTOPES

applicable as the ９９Mo generation method.

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It can be expected that the establishment of
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the system that obtains

Vol．
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１

tion of ９９Mo from fission material for use in the

９９

Tc from Mo gener-

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ated by neutron activation（n, γ ）method of thenatural isotopic Mo compound will support thechemica Acta, 92, 251-257（2004）８）Evans, J. V., Moore, P. W. and Sodeau, J. M., Zirconium-molybdenum gel as a generator for tech-

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Acknowledgment

９）Vanaja, P., Ramamoorthy, N., Iyer, S. P. and Mani,

The authors wish to express our gratitude to

R. S., Development of a new ９９mTc generator us-

Ms. Tomomi Ueda and Ms. Yuli Natori withing neutron irradiated titanium molybdate ascolumn matirx, Radiochimica Acta, 42, 49-52（1987）

whom it cooperated, and also express gratitude
to the researchers of JAEA-NUCEF group who

１０）El-kolay, M. T., A ９９Mo/９９mTc generator based on
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