Photoneutronic aspects of the molybdenum-99 production by means of electron linear accelerators

Abstract Monte Carlo simulations were used to study 99 Mo photonuclear production. Simulation showed that direct production of 99 Mo in the cylindrical 100 Mo target provides higher values of 99 Mo specific activity compared to production using separate bremsstrahlung converter. For 50 MeV 100 kW electron beam we obtained the maximum value of 61 Ci/g specific activity of produced 99 Mo at saturation. Calculations for the targets with optimized shape showed that even higher levels of specific activity are achievable: for optimized target the calculated value of 99 Mo specific activity at saturation exceeds values of 145.89 Ci/g for setup with bremsstrahlung converter and 170.07 Ci/g without the converter.