Production and separation of proton rich radionuclides by heavy ion activation

Over the last few years, our laboratory has been engaged in heavy ion assisted production and separation of no-carrier-added (n.c.a) radionuclides. The programme started with the aim to produce and separate no-carrier-added rare Earth radionuclides. The separation of a n.c.a rare Earth radionuclide from the adjacent bulk rare Earth matrix is a difficult task due to the pronounced chemical similarity of the adjacent rare Earth elements. If the rare Earth targets are irradiated with heavy ions like 7Li, 11B, 12C, 16O, etc., there will be a large atomic number difference between the product and target radionuclides, which would result in better separation of n.c.a rare Earth radionuclides. Using heavy ion projectiles, some lighter rare Earth radionuclides can even be produced from non-rare Earth targets and the separation would be easier. Moreover, the heavy ion induced radionuclides are proton rich and short-lived compared to light charged particle induced radionuclides. Thus we have not only studied the production and separation of nca rare Earth radionuclides by heavy ion activation but also extended our studies to other region of the Periodic Table. Radioanalytical methodologies were developed to separate the product radionuclides from the bulk target matrix mainly by liquid-liquid extraction using different liquid ion exchangers. (orig.)