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DTRA’s advancements in nuclear and radiological detection
A new, more complex nuclear age has begun. Echoing the tensions of the Cold War amid rapidly evolving nuclear and radiological threats, preparedness in the modern age is a contest of scientific innovation. The Research and Development Directorate (RD) at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) is charged with winning this contest.
G. J. Ehrhardt, S. Symes, R. K. Guimon, K. R. Zinn
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 110 | Number 4 | April 1992 | Pages 369-373
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE92-A23910
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several radioisotope generator systems exist in which the carrier-free daughter product would precipitate if present in macro amounts at pH levels at which the parent is soluble. Included among these are the 68Ge/68Ga, 90Sr/90Y, and 47Ca/47Sc pairs. In these systems, chemical separation can be achieved by Fajans adsorption of the radiocolloidal daughter products onto surfaces such as activated glass microspheres at an appropriate pH, followed by washing to remove the parent solution and desorption of the daughter crop by acid washes. Investigation of the Ge/Ga and Sr/Y systems demonstrated that this solid-phase extraction method is erratic, but can give daughter yields as high as 89% with separation factors up to ∼10000 from parent isotope. This method has the potential for producing daughter isotopes with a minimum of metal and organic impurities for labeling cells, receptor binding ligands, and antibodies for diagnostic and radiotherapeutic purposes.