Adsorption from liquid metals: an approach for recovery of radionuclides from irradiated targets

Abstract

Abstract Adsorption of radionuclides in no-carrier-added (NCA) amounts from liquid metals оf Rb, Pb, and Ag was investigated. 82Sr may be recovered from metallic irradiated Rb-target via adsorption onto various surfaces. A high chemical yield is achieved at Sr-sorption from molten Rb of big mass directly onto the inner surface of the target shell at about 300 °C. The investigation showed that the formation and dissolution of oxide sol particles of rubidium oxide, where 82Sr is initially adsorbed in SrO form, play an important role in the mechanism of adsorption. The approach is prospective for different modes in “off-line” and “on-line” 82Sr production. Direct sorption of different NCA radionuclides from molten Pb and Ag was also investigated. Chemical nature of the surface (Ta, Ni, Ti, Mo, Al, or quartz) is very critical for sorption of 188,189Ir, 188Pt,198Au,97Ru,185Os,182mRe,99Mo and 99mTc from molten Pb, and for sorption of 100Pd,101mRh,97Ru, 96Tc from molten Ag.