AN EMBEDDED SYSTEM BASED COMPUTER CONTROLLED PROCESS AUTOMATION FOR RECOVERY AND PURIFICATION OF 99m Tc FROM (n,γ) 99 Mo

Mo produced 99m Tc (t1/2=6hr, 140keV γ-ray) is the most useful radioisotope for nuclear diagnostics. High spe- cific activity 99 Mo is supplied globally mainly by five old reactors whose routine or unscheduled maintenance shut- down causes supply irregularities that adversely affects pa- tient management in nuclear medicine centres. 99m Tc may also be produced via 98 Mo(n,γ) in a natural MoO3 target in reactor or by 100 Mo(n,2n) 99 Mo or 100 Mo(p,2n) 99m Tc reaction in cyclotron. To meet the crisis proposals are there to produce 99 Mo by 100 Mo(n,2n) 99 Mo or 99m Tc directly by 100 Mo(p,2n) 99m Tc in a cyclotron. Of the several sep- aration methods of 99m Tc from molybdenum, the most common are adsorption column chromatography, sublima- tion and liquid-liquid solvent extraction. The conventional methods besides being cumbersome are often hazardous, polluting, require skilled manpower and facilities like fume hood and so are not always practically feasible for hospi- tals. To address these, VECC and BRIT, Kolkata have col- laborated to develop an embedded system based automated 99 Mo/ 99m Tc generator from low specific activity 99 Mo us- ing solvent extraction technique, supervised by a PC based GUI.