Separation by dry distillation at high temperature of the couple Rh-Pd(SETROPA)

Project: Research

Project Details

Description

Nowadays, brachytherapy is used to treat localized cancerous tumours. It consists of placing radioactive implants in the tumour's vicinity. The two major advantages of this treatment are: - healthy tissues are preserved; - only one ambulatory surgery is required. The radioisotope 103Pd* is actually used to make these implants, this isotope is produced by 14MeV proton irradiation of natural rhodium, less than 0.1% of Rh is transformed in 103Pd*. Actually the technique used to separate rhodium and the palladium is a chemical separation. The disadvantages of this technique are: - radioactive waste production; - the rhodium is dissolved and thus unusable for further irradiation. The new technique studied here is a dry physical technique, it consists of heating the irradiated rhodium. By diffusion and evaporation, it's possible to separate the 103Pd* and the Rh. This technique offers two major advantages: - no radio-chemical rubbish; - the rhodium is kept in a solid form and can be re-irradiated.
AcronymSETROPA
StatusFinished
Effective start/end date1/03/0228/02/05

Keywords

  • radioisotope production
  • rhodium
  • dry distillation
  • palladium
  • brachytherapy
  • 103Pd*
  • Diffusion
  • radioisotope separation

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