Coupling target synthesis with separation of isotopes produced from nuclear reactions

Nuclear reactions are routinely used to produce a host of isotopes for medical, industrial, and fuel cycle applications. The separation of isotopes from an irradiated matrix commonly involves target dissolution after irradiation. The produced isotopes are then separated from the dissolved matrix. In irradiations the vast majority of the target is unreacted. The separations after dissolutions means the minuscule amount of product isotope must be removed from a large amount of target. Furthermore the target must be reformed for further isotope production, often with losses and waste generation. Targetry coupled separations exploit techniques to acquire the reaction product radionuclide without target destruction. This method utilizes advances in material synthesis with simplified separations that do not require target dissolution. A separation of products can ideally be achieved by washing a designed target with a solvent that will not destroy the matrix but will remove the fission products. The target can be reformed and irradiated to produce more product isotopes. The fundamentals of this concept have been demonstrated and will be presented