The reporter learned from China National Nuclear Corporation that recently, the Nuclear Physics and Chemistry Institute (company) of China National Nuclear Corporation obtained the 99% kg-level molybdenum -100 isotope for the first time through independent research and development, which indicates that my country has reached the world's leading level in the field of high-abundance stable isotope research. One of the few countries in the world that can obtain molybdenum isotopes in batches.
According to the relevant person in charge of China National Nuclear Corporation, molybdenum (Mo) isotopes have broad application prospects in nuclear medicine, basic physics, advanced nuclear fuel and other research fields.
In the field of nuclear medicine, high-abundance molybdenum -98 and molybdenum -100 isotopes are the pre-nuclides for the production of radioisotope molybdenum -99, and molybdenum -99 further decays to generate technetium -99m, which is currently the most widely used diagnostic radionuclide in nuclear medicine.
In the field of basic physics, high-abundance molybdenum -100 isotopes are applied to the neutrino-free double beta decay experiment, which is an important frontier topic in the current international particle physics and nuclear physics research. It is of great significance to explore the basic properties of neutrinos and reveal the evolution of the universe.
In the field of advanced nuclear fuel research, the melting point of depleted molybdenum -95 is 760 degrees Celsius higher than that of the mainstream nuclear fuel cladding material-zirconium, which can produce more high-temperature nuclear fuel assemblies, greatly improve the safety performance of nuclear fuel assemblies, and provide a guarantee for the safe and green development of nuclear power.
"In order to meet the demand of the domestic market and change the situation of long-term dependence on imports and insufficient supply of molybdenum isotope materials, the scientific research team of CNNC, based on nearly 30 years of continuous research and development experience, broke through the key technology of sticking neck in the isotope separation process and obtained molybdenum -100 isotope products with 99% kilogram isotope abundance for the first time, filling the gap in this technical field in China." The above-mentioned person in charge said.