. "Appendix D: Alternative Molybdenum-99 Production Processes." Medical Isotope Production Without Highly Enriched Uranium. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2009.
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Medical Isotope Production without Highly Enriched Uranium
FIGURE D.1 Schematic representation of the uranium-235 fission process. N = neutrons and FPs = fission products.
FIGURE D.2 Production of Mo-99 from neutron capture. N = neutron.
The most commonly used alternative method for producing Mo-99 involves the neutron capture on an enriched target of Mo-98 (natural occurrence of Mo-98 is 24.13 percent), which is illustrated schematically in Figure D.2.
The fission cross section for thermal fission of U-235 is approximately 600 barns1 which represents a very high probability. Of this, approximately
