文摘
Pharmaceutical houses that produce 99mTc/99Tc generators have on occasion received productsolutions of 99Mo produced from 235U fission that contained a black precipitate. Addition of sodiumhypochlorite to product bottles prior to shipment prevents precipitate formation, which is evidencethat the precipitate is most likely a reduced form of Mo. The radiation effects of the dose from99Mo on the product and product bottle have been determined by irradiating simulated 99Moproduct solutions with the 60Co source at Sandia National Laboratories' Gamma IrradiationFacility (GIF). The GIF experiment successfully generated a black precipitate in amountssufficient for isolation and analysis by infrared and Raman spectroscopy. Changes in the pH ofthe basic 99Mo product solution during irradiation were monitored by titration. Results of theseanalyses and the nature of the process that generates the precipitate, a mixture of molybdenumoxides that forms in plastic bottles but not in glass containers, are discussed.