Under the National Nuclear Security Administration's Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI), Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) is assisting three potential domestic producers to develop and implement molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) production in the United States without the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU). Two of the potential domestic producers are Babcock and Wilcox Technical Services Group (B&W) and Morgridge Institute for Research (MIR). B&W is developing the Medical Isotope Production System (MIPS). In this system, the Mo-99 is produced in an LEU-fueled Aqueous Homogenous Reactor (AHR) by the fissioning of uranium-235 (U-235). The MIPS consists of an AHR containing a low enriched uranium (LEU) solution, a molybdenum-extraction system utilizing a chromatographic column, and a reactor off-gas and solution-control systems. The use of AHRs presents an attractive alternative to the conventional target-irradiation method for producing Mo-99 because the fuel solution itself is used to produce Mo-99, eliminating the need for targets. AHRs also operate at a much lower power level than that required for a traditional reactor. The three areas of Argonne research and development (R&D) are (1) radiolytic-gas generation in the fuel solution, (2) effects of fission and radiation on reactor-solution chemistry, and (3) development and optimization recovery of molybdenum from the irradiated fuel solution.
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