Current status of research and development of 99Mo/99mTc generator in Korea

To supply 99mTc in stable and economical manner in Korea, a chromatographic generator has been under development at KAERI since late 1980's. The chromatographic type of technetium generator is preferred in hospital because it is more convenient and less time-restricted for applications. Hence, the demand of 99mTc in medical applications is keep increasing. In Korea, there are more than 200 gamma cameras including SPECT in hospitals. For these applications, approximately 100 units/week of 99mTc generators of which annual cost reached 3 million US dollars were required in 2002. Hence, the development of 99mTc generators and technology of fission 99Mo processing were started while installing the generator loading facility (GLF) at KAERI. This facility is currently on a trial run for the commercial production of 99mTc generators and expected to produce more than 200 generators per week in 2004. For the fission 99Mo production, an annulus U foil target was considered as the LEU target. The designed LEU target is being used for target manufacturing test and accident analysis. The develop gel type 99mTc generators by using a poly zirconium complex (PZC) and alumina column, KAERI has cooperated with a Japanese company since late 1990's. In 2003, experimental studies for molybdate adsorption capacity and elution characteristics of the PZC samples from three different batches produced by Kaken Co. were carried out. (author)