Production of beryllium-7 and vanadium radioisotopes from proton irradiated zinc oxide

The irradiation of zinc oxide targets with 800 MeV protons produces a number of radioisotopes as spallation products. Zinc oxide is irradiated for approximately seven days to produce 67Cu but significant quantities of 7Be, 48V and 49V along with other radioisotopes are present. The target is dissolved in sulfuric acid followed by electrochemical separation of the copper isotopes. A hydroxide precipitation using iron or lanthanum as carrier isolates the isotopes of interest from the bulk of the zinc target material. Ion exchange techniques are then used to isolate a beryllium fraction and a vanadium fraction. The vanadium fraction contains both 48V and 49V. If only 49V is desired, the shorter lived 48V is allowed to decay out