Production of no-carrier-added123Iviaheavy-ion activation of natural antimony oxide

Abstract

Activation of natural Sb2O3with 48 MeV7Li3+beam results in the formation of no-carrier-added123I in the matrix along with the radionuclides123,125Xe and122Sb. The123I yield amounts to about 400 kBq/μAh and the radionuclidic impurity of124I to ∼1.2% of123I. Attempts to separate no-carrier-added iodine from bulk antimony target involved liquid-liquid extraction with TOA and HDEHP as well as precipitation of Sb2S3with thioacetamide. The precipitation technique was found to be the most effective for quantitative separation of123I from the bulk antimony oxide target.