Recovery of niobium from irradiated targets

A process for selective separation of niobium from proton irradiated molybdenum targets comprising:

• dissolving a proton irradiated molybdenum target in a hydrogen peroxide solution to form a first ion-containing solution;
• contacting the first ion-containing solution with a cationic exchange resin whereby ions selected from the group consisting of molybdenum, technetium, selenium, vanadium, zirconium, rubidium, niobium, arsenic and germanium are contained within a second ion-containing solution while ions selected from the group consisting of rubidium, zinc, beryllium, cobalt, iron, manganese#, chromium, strontium, yttrium and zirconium are selectively adsorbed by the cationic exchange resin;
• adjusting the pH of the second ion-containing solution to within the range of from about 5.0 to about 6.0;
• contacting the ph-adjusted second ion-containing solution with a dextran-based material for sufficient time whereby niobium is selectively separated by the dextran-based material;
• and,
• recovering the niobium from the dextran-based material.