Production of 99Mo via photoneutron reaction using a 50 MeV electron linear accelerator

In this work, the effects of the tungsten (W) converter and molybdenum target thickness on the 99 Mo yield in the production of 99 Mo via 100 Mo(γ, n) 99 Mo photonuclear reaction were studied. The FLUKA program was applied to simulate the optimal size of the targets for the production of 99 Mo under 50 MeV electron conditions, where the thicknesses of the W and Mo targets were 0.3 and 1.4 cm, respectively. The relative error between the calculation and the experimental results was less than 8%. The process of irradiating natural ( nat Mo) and enriched ( 100 Mo) molybdenum targets using electrons with a 1 mA average beam current was further simulated. The specific activity of enriched 100 Mo is nearly ten times higher than that of nat Mo. The use of 100 Mo targets also produces fewer radioactive impurities. This study provides a guidance on the size of W conversion and molybdenum targets, as well as the selection of molybdenum species, when producing 99 Mo via photonuclear reaction.