Study on the method of preparation ⁹⁷Tc

Technetium-99 is one of several long-lived fission products which, when detected in the environment can give an indication of a specific nuclear activity. The most sensitive analytical technique for Tc-99 yet reported is by isotopic dilution mass spectrometry with technetium-97 as the yield tracer. A method for the preparation of Tc-97 is reported in this paper. Tc-97 was obtained by irradiation of a sample of natural ruthenium metal in a high flux reactor. After cooling for 2 years, the technetium was isolated from the sample by technique combining; deposition, solvent extraction, and ion-exchange chromatography techniques. Tc-99m and Ru-103 were used as radio-tracers for the process. The results showed that more than 70% of the Tc was recovered the decontamination factor is more than 2.3 x 10(7). The Tc-97 was calibrated by isotope dilution mass spectrometry with Tc-99 as the yield tracer. The final yield was 29.56 mu g of Tc-97 suitable for use as a mass spectrometric spike (weight % Tc-97 spike: Tc-97, 84.77%; Tc-98, 15.03%; Tc-99, 0.20%).