Towards the fast neutron-induced isotope production of 99mTc via the 102Ru(n,α)99Mo reaction.

Radioactive isotopes are widely used in medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic procedures.The most commonly used isotope is technetium-99m (99mTc), a product of β-decay of a molybdenum-99 (99Mo) nucleus, which is currently commercially produced using nuclear reactors. An alternative method of medical grade radioisotope production is required to sustain the demand as nuclear reactors are decommissioned. The proposed method of isotope production which will be discussed in this thesis is to use fast neutrons (∼14.1 MeV) to induce an 102Ru(n,α)99Mo reaction. The Nuclear Science Laboratory (NSL) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) has a Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) Thermo Fisher P385 Neutron Generator (NG) which will be used for the neutron production, as well as ‘state of the art’ gamma ray spectrometers that will be used for experimental analysis. A series of experiments are discussed in this thesis to prove the viability of fast neutron induced isotope production.