The accuracy of 99Molybdenum assays in 99mTechnetium solutions

A study was performed to determine the accuracy of 99Mo measurements using three commercial dose calibrators with their 99Mo assay shields. One 99Mo assay shield allowed excessive penetration by the lower energy 99mtc photons, resulting in the calibrator's falsely high interpretation of the activity of 99Mo present in the high-activity 99mTc eluates. All three calibrators performed adequately with a National Bureau of Standards 99Mo standard in equilibrum with 99mTc. By using low-activity aliquots of 99Mo and 99mTc, a low-level linearity test was performed. Two of the calibrators were found to have a threshold of approximately 10 microCi (370 kBq) for a nonzero 99Mo response, although one of these occasionally produced variable nonzero responses below its threshold. Only one of the calibrators was found to reflect accurately the activity of 99Mo present under all conditions tested.