Gadolinium-153 production at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1988

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5695147· OSTI ID:5695147

Ramey, D W

Gadolinium-153 production at 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 separates the bulk of undesirable europium isotopes. The use of this process increases the efficiency of the high-pressure ion exchange step and effects a final product purity of >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. 3 figs., 4 tabs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5695147
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-10641; ON: DE88006053
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

07 ISOTOPE AND RADIATION SOURCES
070100* -- Physical Isotope Separation
38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
400703 -- Radiochemistry & Nuclear Chemistry-- Radioisotope Production
BARYON REACTIONS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CAPTURE
CHALCOGENIDES
DAYS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
ELECTRON CAPTURE RADIOISOTOPES
EUROPIUM 151
EUROPIUM 153
EUROPIUM COMPOUNDS
EUROPIUM ISOTOPES
EUROPIUM OXIDES
EVEN-ODD NUCLEI
GADOLINIUM 153
GADOLINIUM ISOTOPES
HADRON REACTIONS
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ION EXCHANGE
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION
ISOTOPES
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
NUCLEON REACTIONS
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ORNL
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE EARTH COMPOUNDS
RARE EARTH ISOTOPES
RARE EARTH NUCLEI
SEPARATION PROCESSES
STABLE ISOTOPES
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS