Three new selective reactions for Mo(VI) precipitation - alternative process for separation and purification of molybdenum

Molybdenum 99 decays to allow energy daughter nuclide, technetium 99 m, which is a major event. In the recent history of nuclear medicine to the development of techniques that permit the safe and clear visualization of internal anatomic structures. The use of 99 Mo in nuclear medicine for the technetium generators requires a very pure radiomolibdenum. The 235 U fission is the preferred method to procedure high specific 99 Mo/99m Tc generators. Then, considerable effort has been dedicated in research to make possible an efficient separation and purification of 99 Mo from the mixed fission products and other accompanying elements. The present study claims this goal. A separation process is established using a simulated non-irradiated fuel elements plate, which main constituent is an uranium-aluminum alloy. The optimization dissolution process with nitric acid and mercury as catalyst was performed. The initial separation of molybdenum by sorption/desorption onto alumina microspheres specially synthesized for this purpose was successfully done. The eluted molybdenum was selectivity precipitated with the specific reagents α,α'-dipyridine, 1,10-phenanthroline and alizarin blue, whose application as selective reagents for the precipitation of molybdenum is described here for the first time. These studies confirmed the obtention of a final product with high purity suited for the preparation of the 99 Mo/99m Tc generators. (author)