Systems, apparatus and methods for separating actinium, radium, and thorium
AssigneesThe University of British Columbia, Triumf
InventorsAndrew Kyle Henderson Robertson, Hua Yang, Stefan Zeisler, Paul Schaffer
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of separating actinium and/or radium from proton-irradiated thorium metal. The thorium metal is irradiated to produce isotopes including thorium, actinium and/or radium. The resultant product is dissolved in solution and a selective precipitant is used to precipitate a bulk portion of the thorium. The precipitated thorium can be recovered. Chromatography is carried out on the remaining solution to remove residual thorium and to separate the actinium from the radium.
Claims33
A method of separating thorium from actinium and/or radium, the method comprising:
- placing the thorium and the actinium and/or radium in a weak acid solution;
- adding a selective precipitant to the weak acid solution and precipitating a bulk portion of the dissolved thorium under precipitation conditions while leaving the actinium and/or radium in the solution;
- and
- filtering to separate the precipitated bulk portion of the thorium from the actinium and/or radium in the solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.