Simulation of the liquid targets for molybdenum-99 production

TL;DR

This study uses Monte Carlo simulation to analyze how effectively clinoptilolite particles trap molybdenum-99 nuclei during production, highlighting near-complete trapping efficiency at specific photon energies and emphasizing the need for carrier concentration optimization.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel Monte Carlo simulation approach to optimize clinoptilolite carrier particles for efficient molybdenum-99 production.

Findings

Carrier particles trap almost all $^{99}$Mo nuclei at 12-18 MeV photon energies.

The ratio of nuclei reaching the carrier is below 1.5% outside optimal conditions.

High specific activity requires optimizing carrier particle concentration.

Abstract

The efficiency of $^{99}$Mo nuclei trapping by clinoptilolite particles using Monte Carlo simulation was studied. The simulation showed the carrier particle traps almost all of the incident $^{99}$Mo nuclei for the photon energies 12-18 MeV. The ratio of the $^{99}$Mo nuclei reaching the carrier to the total number of $^{99}$Mo nuclei escaping the nanoparticle is below 1.5% in for the photon energies 12-18 MeV. High specific activity of produced $^{99}$Mo nuclide requires optimization of the clinoptilolite carrier particles concentration in the suspension.