To cost to do this? Every time you add costs you pass that on ‘Technically, it seems feasible to me, but what’s it going Vice-President Malkoske said Nordion never agreed to convert to low-enriched Produced by AECL) shows little sign of taking this seriously. (a private company that markets the Mo-99 that is Produce Mo-99 that do not require HEU but MDS-Nordion US authorities that they must develop technologies to Which is meant to halt all shipments of weapons-grade River because there is a US law (the Schumer amendment) The shipment of HEU (highly enriched uranium) to Chalk In the USA, the Nuclear Control Institute (NCI) went to court to stop Using weapons-grade uranium targets also. But AECL’s Maple reactors were designed to produce Mo-99 Was supposed to have been permanently retired in 2000Īnd replaced by the two new Maple reactors. The 50-year old NRU reactor is used to produce Mo-99. Made of weapons-grade uranium (over 90% enriched!!) Produced, now, in a very high-intensity neutron field, which The downside to this is that Mo-99 (called “moly” for short) is only However, the supply of Mo-99 has to be uninterrupted or hospitals will Micrograms of Mo-99 is sufficient to produce enough Tc-99m To give Tc-99m over a period of many days. The Mo-99 isotope is used as a “cow” which can be “milked” Which can be helpful in diagnosing cancer and other ailments. This allows doctors to see details of the soft organs Patient rather than having one big x-ray machine outside the It's like having little x-ray machines inside the Give a good clear picture (caught on film or on a screen) without giving too high a dose to the Tc-99m are a lot “softer” than those from cobalt-60 so they Tc-99m canĮasily be attached to various molecules which can then be Metastable isotope - a pure gamma emitter - called technetium-99mįor many many diagnostic purposes. Molybdenum-99 has a half-life of 66 hours, and it decays into a Of 5.3 years and so loses about 13% of its inventory Sterilize medical instruments, for example. Used outside the body to irradiate tumours and to In nuclear reactors, chiefly cobalt-60 and molybdenum-99.Ĭobalt-60 is a “hard” gamma emitter and is See Nuclear Medicine, Radioisotopes and Nuclear Reactors But AECL has deliberately worked over the years to createĪ market for specialized isotopes that are produced Of nuclear fission - and that even after the discovery of fission, cyclotrons and other types of particle accelerators were widely used to produce isotopes for medical and scientific research purposes. It is important to realize that isotopes were being used for diagnosis and therapy long before the discovery The isotope question is a complicated one. Notes on the Isotope Shortage (written June 10 2009)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |