Abstract
Tc-99m is a very useful radioisotope in medical diagnostic procedure. Tc-99m is produced from Mo-99 decay. Currently, most of Mo-99 is produced by irradiating U-235 in the nuclear reactor. Mo-99 mostly results from the fission reaction of U-235 targets with a fission yield about 6.1%. A small additional amount is created from Mo-98 neutron activation. Actually Mo-99 is also created in the reactor fuel, but usually we do not extract it. The fuel will become spent fuel which is a highly radioactive waste. Mo-99 production system in the aqueous homogeneous reactor offers a better method, because all of the Mo-99 can be extracted from the fuel solution. Fresh reactor fuel solution consists of uranyl nitrate dissolved in water. There is no separation of target and fuel in an aqueous homogeneous reactor where target and fuel become one liquid solution, and there is no spent fuel generated from this reactor. Simulation of the extraction process is performed while reactor in operation (without reactor shutdown). With an extraction flow rate of 3.6 L/h, after 43 hours of reactor operation the production of Mo-99 is relatively constant at about 98.6 curie/hour. (C) 2014 Atom Indonesia. All rights reserved