Stable isotope enrichment capabilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Egle, Brian; Hart, Kevin J.; Aaron, W.S.

doi:10.1007/s10967-013-2630-8

Cited by 12 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…This level of enrichment would require an isotope separator capable of handling actinides and the levels of radioactivity associated with this material. An electromagnetic isotope separations unit [53] has been assembled and demonstrated at ORNL for stable isotopes, and several planned upgrades are in progress. A similar unit, with the necessary containment of the ion source and collectors for the separated actinides, would enable expanded research opportunities by providing enriched actinides for super-heavy element synthesis and other research needs, including a possible search for element 120 using 251 Cf + 50 Ti.…”

Section: Californiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Actinide targets for the synthesis of super-heavy elements

et al. 2015

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Since 2000, six new super-heavy elements with atomic numbers 113 through 118 have been synthesized in hot fusion reactions of 48 Ca beams on actinide targets. These target materials, including 242 Pu, 244 Pu, 243 Am, 245 Cm, 248 Cm, 249 Cf, and 249 Bk, are available in very limited quantities and require specialized production and processing facilities resident in only a few research centers worldwide. This report describes the production and chemical processing of heavy actinide materials for super-heavy element research, current availabilities of these materials, and related target fabrication techniques. The impact of actinide materials in super-heavy element discovery is reviewed, and strategies for enhancing the production of rare actinides including 249 Bk, 251 Cf, and 254 Es are described.

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Section: Californiummentioning

confidence: 99%

Actinide targets for the synthesis of super-heavy elements

et al. 2015

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“…Electromagnetic isotope separation has long been used for isotope enrichment [9,10], and isotope supply systems have been commercially established. However, due to the limited number of isotope suppliers [11], existing methods for the production of rhenium isotopes may not be able to meet the growing demand for radiotherapeutics in the future [12]. In previous studies, the method of producing Re from tungsten (W) was discussed [13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Feasibility Study on Production of High-Purity Rhenium-185 by Nuclear Transmutation of Natural Tantalum

Tanoue,

Yokoyama,

Ozawa

2023

JNE

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Rhenium-186 (Re-186) has attracted attention as a medical isotope. The feasibility of producing Re-185, the raw material for Re-186, using a fast reactor was evaluated using a continuous energy Monte Carlo code. The irradiation of natural tantalum (Ta) in the fast reactor can produce Re-185 with an isotopic purity of 99%. A two-step irradiation process with different moderators was found to improve the production rate of Re-185. Specifically, this can be achieved by using zirconium hydride (ZrH1.7) as a moderator in the first transmutation process from natural Ta to tungsten (W), and then zirconium deuteride (ZrD1.7) as a moderator in the second transmutation process from W to Re-185. Due to the two-step irradiation, the production rate of Re-185 from Ta can be increased up to a maximum of 470 times compared with irradiation without a moderator, and 2.3 g of Re-185 can be obtained from 1571 g of Ta in 1 year of irradiation. The proposed isotope production method is a new method that is different from the conventional electromagnetic enrichment process.

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“…In the following decades, mass spectrometry was entirely displaced for bulk U enrichment in favor of more efficient gaseous diffusion [3] and gas centrifuge [4] technologies, but has remained in use on a small scale using "Calutron" type instruments for the production of enriched isotopes of other elements excluding U on the mg-g-kg scale. Relatively few of these instruments are in routine operation so access to the isotopically enriched product of this type of mass spectrometer (MS) is restricted; principally owing to their large size and the limited market for enriched isotopes that remains mostly research based [5,6]. To produce single isotopes on the gram scale requires the use of high ion currents, typically A-mA, and relatively high operating pressures, ≈1×10 −5 mbar.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The production of ultra-high purity single isotopes or tailored isotope mixtures by ICP-MS

Liezers

Farmer

Dion

et al. 2015

International Journal of Mass Spectrometry

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a b s t r a c tWe report the development and testing of a collector arrangement for quadrupole inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) that for the first time has been used to isolate small quantities of highly enriched (>99.99%) single isotopes, with deposition rates >10 ng h −1 . The collector assembly replaces the standard instrument detector allowing for implantation with simultaneous monitoring of the incident ion current. Even under zero bias implant conditions, low energy (<10 eV) ion collection efficiency was observed to be very high 99%. 151 Eu ion currents of 0.1-0.5 nA were collected on a simple, planar foil without resorting to any type of cup configuration. Recovery of the enriched isotope from such foils is much simpler than from a more complex cup configuration. High rejection of adjacent mass isotopes was demonstrated by selectively implanting 167 Er, then using laser ablation ICP-MS imaging to confirm the absence of any co-implanted 166 Er or 168 Er. The important analytical possibilities of this new approach to isotope ratio measurement, tracer purification, and radiation measurements are discussed.

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Stable isotope enrichment capabilities at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Cited by 12 publications

References 6 publications

Actinide targets for the synthesis of super-heavy elements

Actinide targets for the synthesis of super-heavy elements

Feasibility Study on Production of High-Purity Rhenium-185 by Nuclear Transmutation of Natural Tantalum

The production of ultra-high purity single isotopes or tailored isotope mixtures by ICP-MS

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