Gadolinium-153 production at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Gadolinium-153 production at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) involves the neutron irradiation of natural europium oxide (47.8% /sup 151/Eu, 52.2% /sup 153/Eu). This target material undergoes a series of neutron captures and radioactive decays to produce the desired /sup 153/Gd product. Several undesirable europium isotopes (/sup 152/Eu, /sup 154/Eu, and /sup 156/eu) are also produced during this irradiation process. Recent technical advances and other improvements in the radiochemical processing of this isotope have allowed ORNL to increase production by more than sevenfold. A newly developed electrochemical process has allowed the separation of the bulk of undesirable europium isotopes and has also affected a more efficient use of high-pressure ion exchange to achieve a final product radiochemical purity >99.999%. Specific activities >60 Ci/g of gadolinium oxide and product specific yields >2.9 Ci/g of irradiated europium oxide have been produced. Use of unique glove box manipulators and special equipment designed at ORNL have allowed final source fabrication to keep pace with the increased production rate while minimizing the radiation exposure to operating personnel