~(89)Sr PRODUCTION IN A REACTOR WITH SOLUTION FUEL

摘要

The experimental results for the validation of a technology for producing ~(89)Sr in a reactor with solution fuel are presented. The aggregate state of the fuel - a water solution of uranyl sulfate UO_2SO_4 - opens up a unique possibility of acting not only on the target radionuclide but also on its genetic precursors, produced as a result of nuclear transformations of the fission products as a whole in the decay chain ~(89)Se→~(89)Br→~(89)Kr→~(89)Rb→~(89)Sr. The half-life of ~(89)Kr (T_(1/2) = 190 sec) - a gaseous precursor of ~(89)Sr - is sufficient for it to leave the fuel solution and migrate into the gaseous medium. A series of experiments is performed on obtaining gas samples from the free volume of the solution of the 20 kW Argus minireactor. It is shown that the mechanism of delivery of ~(89)Sr into the sorption volume of the experimental loop of the Argus reactor system is based on transport along the ~(89)Kr loop. Measurements of the content of the radioactive impurities in a solution of ~(89)SrCl_2 showed that the purification of the gas flow by metal-ceramic filters and purification of the solution on DOWEX-50x8 or crown ehter Sr-Resin yields medical quality ~(89)Sr. The productivity of the new technology, which is many-fold greater than that of the modern industrial methods for producing ~(89)Sr, is assessed on the basis of experimental data.