This paper reports the progress of the development of a Tc-99m chromatographic generator, which uses neutron-activated Mo-99 as the mother radionuclide. Chemical point of view, the production of Tc-99m by using fission molybdenum as the mother nuclide is not a challenging problem. However, the use of the activated Mo-99 for the generator is an extremely challenging task because the specific activity of the activated Mo-99 is at least 1,000 times less than that of fission molybdenum. Hence, unrealistically large column is needed for this kind of generator when conventional alumina is employed. In this study, the column size is minimized by employing a sulfate-functionalized alumina. The sulfated alumina has more than 200 mg/g molybdenum uptake capacity that enables to produce generators up to 500 mCi activity. All the generator components, the production system, and the quality tests for Tc-99m have been performed. Also, a production license for the medical-purpose generator was issued by the KFDA.

Development of chromatographic generators for medical radioisotope production

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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