Abstract
Unconverted, isotopically-enriched molybdenum metal must be recovered from the spent
radiopharmaceutical solution used in NorthStar’s Technetium-99m generator and reused. The recycle
process begins by recovering the metal from the aqueous potassium molybdate (K2MoO4) solutions as
molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) employing a process developed at Argonne National Laboratory. The
MoO3 powder is subsequently reduced to molybdenum metal powder which can be blended with new
powder and further processed into a flowable form to be used to produce target disks for irradiation. The
molybdenum oxide reduction process has been examined and scaled to produce kilogram quantities of
metal powder suitable for processing into a useable form employing spray drying or similar technique and
ultimately used for target fabrication.