[en] In the middle of the years 1970 in IPEN, considerable work for the purification and conversion of uranium and thorium project, the production of thorium nitrate, a pilot scale from different compounds of Thorium was accomplished; This installation of thorium nitrate produced for national marketing, given the industry of incandescent lighting gas mangles.. The method used by this installation was the purification by solvent extraction with pulsed columns. The thorium was in the organic phase, which was reversed as of thorium nitrate with a high degree of purity. The aqueous phase of this chemical process, containing impurities, some not extracted thorium and virtually all rare earths was precipitated in the form of a hydroxide. This was called RETOTER hydroxide (residue of Thorium and Rare Earth). This residue containing thorium, rare earth and some impurities such as lead-208 product of the decay of thorium-232 were stored in the shed of safeguarding IPEN for further recovery of thorium and rare earth. In this work was studied the recovery of lead-208, nuclear material of interest, separating it by the technique of cementation , where it adds zinc metallic to an acid solution of RETOTER, holding up the lead on the surface of the metallic zinc. (author)