Porous activated carbon monoliths as a novel target material for the production of 99Mo by fission

TALAVERA-RAMOS, WHITNEY; TELLERÍA-NARVAEZ, ADRIÁN; DOS SANTOS, LUCAS; BEVILACQUA, ARTURO; SOBA, ALEJANDRO; LUCA, VITTORIO

JOURNAL OF RADIOANALYTICAL AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY

SPRINGER

Año: 2021

0236-5731

A simple method for the production of 99Mo is proposed involving the fission of 235U loaded onto commercially available activated carbon fibers. The maximum uranium loading that could be achieved on the material was 0.35 mg g−1. The dependence of the metal ion loading on pH showed that in the pH range 6?9, Mo was not significantly bound to the carbon surface, whereas all other metal species investigated were relatively strongly held. This finding suggests that it should be possible to devise a process based on this new target material providing five-day irradiation in a high neutron flux does not alter the surface properties of the carbon matrix. Graphic abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]