An interleaved approach to production of 99Mo and 89Sr medical radioisotopes

More than half of the world's annual production of radionuclides is used for medical purposes such as diagnostic imaging of diseases and patient therapy. Using aqueous homogeneous solution reactor technology, production quantities of medical radioisotopes 99Mo and89Sr, can be extracted from one reactor cycle. 99Mo may be produced directly from UO2SO4 uranyl sulfate in an aqueous homogeneous solution nuclear reactor in a manner that produces high purity radionuclides, making efficient use of the reactor's uranium fuel solution. The process is relatively simple, economical, and waste free, eliminating uranium targets. The short-lived radioisotope 99mTc is eluted from 99Mo for diagnostic imaging. Radioisotope 89Sr infusion is a therapeutic modality that reduces reliance on narcotic analgesia through palliation of metastatic bone pain caused by metastases of the cancer to the bone. Painful disseminated osseous metastases are common with carcinomas of the lung, prostate, and breast. Synergistic interleaving of two manufacturing processes, one producing 99Mo and another producing 89Sr in the same production cycle of an aqueous homogeneous solution reactor makes full and efficient use of the time for both the neutron irradiation stage and the extraction stage of each radionuclide. Interleaving the capture of 89Sr radioisotope with production processing of 99Mo radioisotope is achieved, since the extraction and subsequent elimination of radionuclide impurities occurs during separate parts of the reactor cycle. The process applies to either HEU or LEU nuclear fuels in an aqueous homogeneous solution reactor.