Diagnostic ($^{99}$Mo/$^{99m}$Tc) and Therapeutic ($^{67}$Cu) Radioisotopes Produced by Neutrons from C,Be(d,n)

New production routes to produce 99 Mo and 67 Cu by the 100 Mo(n,2n) 99 Mo and the 68 Zn(n,n'p+d) 67 Cu reactions using accelerator neutrons are discussed. A thermoschromatographic system was developed to separate high quality 99m Tc from 99 Mo of low specific activity with high efficiency. The pharmaceutical quality of 99m Tc pertechnetate solution obtained from 99 Mo met the United States Pharmacopeia requirements. The calculated 99 Mo yield from a 100 − 150 g 100 MoO3 sample indicates that about 50% of the demand for 99 Mo in Japan can be met with a single accelerator capable of 40 MeV, 2 mA deuteron beams for an irradiation time of 24 h. The radionuclide purity of 67 Cu is quite high. The measured biodistribution of 67 CuCl2 in colorectal tumor-bearing mice showed a high uptake of 67 Cu in the tumor, which suggests that 67 CuCl2 can be a potential radionuclide agent for cancer radiotherapy.