Assessment of impurity production upon 14 MeV fusion neutron irradiation of both natural and isotopically enriched 100Mo samples

99mTc, a decay product of 99Mo, is the most widely used radionuclide in single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Currently, 99Mo is mainly produced by nuclear reactors as isotope separation from fission products by 235U-enriched (HEU or LEU) uranium targets. Due to problems related to the ageing of nuclear fission reactors, new techniques are presently taken into consideration. In this paper, the 99Mo production based on the 100Mo(n,2n)99Mo reaction route, using 14 MeV fusion neutrons, is investigated. To this end, two samples were tested, manufactured as natural molybdenum metallic powder encapsulated in a container and 100Mo-enriched molybdenum metallic pellet, respectively. The main goal of the experimental investigation was to determine the isotope inventory, as well as the amount of impurities generated in the neutron-irradiated samples. The experimental results were compared to numerical calculations obtained by means of MCNP and FISPACT-II codes. A prediction of the expected activity of 99Mo under the aforementioned irradiation conditions is also provided for the future high-brilliance 14 MeV neutron source named SORGENTINA-RF.