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

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.