A photoneutron mechanism for the production of technetium-99 in the interior of evolved stars.

A photoneutron mechanism for the production of 99Te and possibly other radioactive isotopes is considered. This process, herein called the F-process, operates coincidentally with the CNO cycle for hydrogen burning. In particular, it is shown that the photoneutron process involving `5N(p, y)160 100Mo(y, n)99Mo(fl )99Tc is capable of generating 99Te in amounts equivalent to that of the precursor material 100Mo in a time comparable with the lifetime of 99Te under equilibrium conditions only for (log T6 - 0.076 log ) > 2.2 Subject headings: abundances, stellar - nuclear reactions