Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of producing Tc-99m, the method comprising:irradiating a fluid target matrix comprising Mo-100 with a proton beam to directly transform at least a portion of Mo-100 to Tc-99m via a Mo-100(p,2n)Tc-99m reaction and provide an irradiated fluid target matrix; andisolating Tc-99m from the irradiated fluid target matrix. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluid target matrix further comprises water. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Mo-100 is derived from a water soluble molybdenum compound selected from the group consisting of molybdenum oxide, ammonium molybdate, and alkali metal molybdates. 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the water is H218O, and at least a portion of the O-18 is transformed to F-18. 5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:separating at least a portion of the F-18 from the irradiated fluid target matrix. 6. The method of claim 2 wherein the fluid target matrix has a pH of about 2 to about 12. 7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:isolating the Mo-100 from the irradiated fluid target matrix to provide a recovered sample of the Mo-100; andirradiating the recovered sample of the Mo-100 with a proton beam to transform at least a portion of the recovered sample of the Mo-100 to the Tc-99m. 8. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluid target matrix comprises an organic liquid. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the fluid target matrix comprises a gas or a mixture of gases, and the Mo-100 is derived from a gaseous molybdenum compound. 10. The method of claim 1 wherein protons of the proton beam have an average energy of at least about 7 MeV. 11. The method of claim 1, wherein isolating Tc-99m from the fluid target matrix comprises:transferring the irradiated liquid target matrix out of an irradiation target body; andseparating at least a portion of Tc-99m from Mo-100. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein separating at least a portion of Tc-99m from Mo-100 comprises:loading a sample of the irradiated liquid target matrix onto a solid phase extraction system;eluting the Tc-99m and the Mo-100 from the solid phase extraction system with at least one eluent solution to separate at least a portion of the Tc-99m from at least a portion of the Mo-100; andcollecting at least a portion of the at least one eluent solution discharged from the solid phase extraction system to provide an eluted technetium fraction enriched in the Tc-99m and an eluted molybdenum fraction enriched in the Mo-100. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the eluted technetium fraction is eluted from the solid phase extraction system before the eluted molybdenum fraction. 14. The method of claim 12, wherein the eluted molybdenum fraction is eluted from the solid phase extraction system before the eluted technetium fraction. 15. The method of claim 11, wherein separating at least a portion of the Tc-99m from the Mo-100 comprises:partitioning the irradiated liquid target matrix between an organic solvent phase and an aqueous phase to produce a product enriched in the Tc-99m. 16. The method of claim 15, wherein the organic solvent phase comprises methyl ethyl ketone. 17. The method of claim 1, wherein another portion of the Mo-100 in the fluid target matrix is transformed to Mo-99 in the irradiated fluid target matrix, and the method further comprisingisolating Mo-100 and Mo-99 from the irradiated fluid target matrix to provide a recovered sample of molybdenum that is substantially free of a direct irradiation produced Tc-99m; andseparating at least a portion of Tc-99m derived from a natural decay of Mo-99 from the recovered sample of molybdenum. 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising producing a plurality of radionuclides:by concurrently producing at least one of F-18, N-13, O-15, or C-11,wherein the fluid target matrix further comprises at least one of O-18, O-16, or N-14, wherein irradiating the fluid target matrix with the proton beam transforms at least a portion of Mo-100 to Tc-99m, and transforms at least a portion of the O-18 to F-18, at least a portion of the O-16 to N-13, at least a portion of the O-16 to O-15, or at least a portion of the N-14 to C-11, and thereby provide an the irradiated fluid target matrix; andseparating from the irradiated fluid target matrix at least a portion of the Tc-99m and at least a portion of the F-18, the N-13, O-15, and/or the C-11. 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the Mo-100 is derived from a water soluble molybdenum compound selected from the group consisting of molybdenum oxide, ammonium molybdate, and alkali metal molybdates. 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the O-18 is derived from H218O, 18O2, or 100Mo18O3, the O-16 is derived from H216O, 16O2, or 100Mo16O3, or the N-14 is derived from 14NH3, 14NH4+1, 14N2, 14N16O3−1, 14N18O3−1, or (14NH4)6Mo7O24. 21. The method of claim 1, further comprising:transferring an aqueous solution of a water soluble molybdenum compound comprising Mo-100 into a target assembly,wherein the aqueous solution has a pH in a range from about 2 to about 12; wherein the target assembly comprises a target body and a beam window; wherein the target body comprises stainless steel, tantalum, a cobalt alloy, or a polyether ether ketone; and wherein the beam window comprises cobalt, titanium, tantalum, tungsten, stainless steel, gold, or alloys thereof. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the beam window has a thickness in a range from approximately 0.3 μm to 50 μm. 23. The method of claim 21, wherein irradiating the fluid target matrix comprising Mo-100 with the proton beam is performed with proton energies in a range from about 7 MeV to about 30 MeV at a beam power within a range from approximately 1.5 kW to 15.0 kW.