Centrifugal extraction of highly enriched tin isotopes and increase of specific activity of the radionuclide 119mSn on the gas centrifuge cascade

Abstract This work contains the results of research on centrifugal enrichment of 118 Sn isotope followed by irradiation and, finally, a second centrifugal enrichment to produce high specific activity 119m Sn. Non-steady-state separation methods were used for the effective extraction of the radionuclide 119m Sn from the irradiated target. As a result of this work, radiation sources based on 119m Sn were obtained with a specific activity of 500 mCi/g. This is 100 times greater than the specific activity obtained after irradiation in the reactor alone. In addition, the sources had an previously unattainable radio-purity ratio of 113 Sn/ 119m Sn of approximately 10 −6 .