Fission Molybdenum production facility

• PM dedicated the Molybdenum-99 production facility located in Trombay Campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre to nation.

ABOUT MOLYBDENUM-99

• Molybdenum-99 is the parent isotope of technetium-99m (Tc-99m), a short-lived, gamma-emitting isotope.
• Tc-99m is used in more than 85% of imaging procedures for the early detection of cancer, heart disease etc and for the study of organ structure and function.
• Tc-99m is especially useful for nuclear medicine procedures because it can be chemically incorporated into small molecule ligands and proteins.
• Tc-99m is currently produced through a multistep process that begins with the neutron irradiation of fissile U-235 contained in highly enriched uranium.