SIMULATIONS ON NICKEL TARGET PREPARATION AND SEPARATION OF Ni(II)-

Abstract

SIMULATIONS ON NICKEL TARGET PREPARATION AND SEPARATION.OF Ni(II)-Cu(II) MATRIX FOR PRODUCTION OF RADIOISOTOPE 64Cu. The simulations on Nickel target preparation and separation of Ni(II)- Cu(II) matrix has been carried out as a preliminary study for production of medical radioisotope Cu-64 based on nuclear reaction of 64Ni (p,n) 64Cu. The nickel target preparation was performed by means of electroplating method using acidic solution of nickel chloride - boric acid mixture and basic solution of nickel sulphate – nickel chloride mixture on a silver- surfaced-target holder. The simulated solution of Ni(II) – Cu(II) matrix was considered as the solution of post-proton-irradiated nickel target containing both irradiated nickel and radioactive copper, but in the presented work the proton irradiation of nickel target was omitted, while the radioactive copper was originally obtained from neutron irradiation of CuO target. The separation of radioactive copper from the nickel target matrix was based on anion exchange column chromatography in which the radiocopper was conditioned to form anion complex CuCl4 2– and retained on the column while the nickel was kept in the form of Ni2+ cation and eluted off from the column. The retained radioactive copper was then eluted out the column in the condition of dilute HCl changing back the copper anion complex into Cu2+ cation. It was found that the electroplating result from the acidic solution
was more satisfied than that from the basic solution. By conditioning the matrix solution at HCl 6 M, the radioactive copper was found in the forms of Cu2+ and CuCl4 2– while the nickel was totally in the form of Ni2+. In the condition of HCl 9 M, the radioactive copper was mostly in the form of CuCl4 2– while the nickel was found as both Ni2+ and NiCl4 2– . The best condition of separation was in HCl 8 M in which the radioactive copper was mostly in the form of CuCl4 2– while the nickel was mostly in the form of Ni2+. The retained CuCl4 2– was then changed back into Cu2+ cation form and eluted out the column by using HCl 0.05 M. The γ-spectrometric analysis showed a single strong peak at 511 keV which is in accord to γ-annihilation peak coming from positron decay of Cu-64, and a very weak peak at 1346 keV which is in accord to γ-ray of Cu-64