Targetry coupled separations

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020161015-A1
Application number	US-201916444973-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jun 18, 2019
Priority date	Dec 29, 2014
Publication date	May 21, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

Targetry coupled separation refers to enhancing the production of a predetermined radiation product through the selection of a target (including selection of the target material and the material's physical structure) and separation chemistry in order to optimize the recovery of the predetermined radiation product. This disclosure describes systems and methods for creating (through irradiation) and removing one or more desired radioisotopes from a target and further describes systems and methods that allow the same target to undergo multiple irradiations and separation operations without damage to the target. In contrast with the prior art that requires complete dissolution or destruction of a target before recovery of any irradiation products, the repeated reuse of the same physical target allowed by targetry coupled separation represents a significant increase in efficiency and decrease in cost over the prior art.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for manufacturing 99 Mo radioisotope, the method comprising:
providing a source containing a first mass of uranium, the source being in a form in which a majority of uranium atoms are within a selected distance from an available surface of the source; exposing the source to neutrons, thereby reducing the first mass of uranium in the source to a second mass of uranium less than the first mass and creating at least some atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope and thereby also causing at least some of the newly created atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope to move toward an available surface of the source; and after exposing the source to neutrons, removing at least some of the atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope from the source without substantially removing uranium from the second mass of uranium in the source.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the removing operation removes less than 0.01% of the uranium from the second mass of uranium in the source.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the removing operation removes less than 0.1% of the uranium from the second mass of uranium in the source.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the providing operation further comprises:
providing a source made at least partially from particles containing uranium oxide or uranium metal, the particles having a particle size based on a recoil distance of 99 Mo in the source.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
enclosing the source in a neutronically-translucent container.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein exposing the source further comprises
exposing the container enclosing the source to neutrons and removing at least some of the atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope further comprises removing at least some of the atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope from the container.

7 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
selecting an extraction material that dissolves atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope without changing the phase of the uranium in the source.

8 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
selecting an extraction material in which atoms of the 99 Mo radioisotope are more soluble than atoms of uranium.

9 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
determining the form of the source based on the selected extraction material.

10 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
selecting a combination of a source and an extraction material, wherein the combination allows 99 Mo radioisotope to be removed from the source after exposure to neutrons without substantially affecting the source.

11 . The method of claim 5 wherein the removing operation further comprises:
passing an extraction material selected to dissolve the 99 Mo radioisotope through the container, thereby contacting the available surface of the source with the extraction material.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the extraction material is selected from a supercritical fluid and an aqueous fluid.

13 . The method of claim 11 wherein the extraction material is supercritical carbon dioxide containing a ligand that dissolves the 99 Mo radioisotope.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the ligand is selected from 8-hydroxyquinoline, α-benzoinoxime, disodium 4,5-dihydroxy-1,3-benzenedisulfonate, phosphate compounds, and diketone compounds.

15 . The method of claim 13 wherein the ligand has one or more functional groups selected from hydroxyl, carbonyl, diketones, aldehyde, haloformyl, carbonate ester, carboxylate, ester, ether, peroxy, amine, carboxamide, imide, imine, nitrate, cyanate, thiol, sulfide, sulfinyl, sulfonyl, thiocyanate, isothiocyanate, phosphate, and phosphono groups.

15 . The method of claim 6 further comprising:
repeatedly performing the exposing operation and the removing operations on the container without removing the uranium from the container.

16 . The method of claim 11 further comprising:
removing the 99 Mo radioisotope from the extraction material.

17 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
after the removing operation, repeating the exposing operation on the same source.

18 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
removing, in addition to the 99 Mo radioisotope, an amount of one or more other fission products created during the exposing operation.

19 . A system for generating radioisotopes comprising:
one or more containers, including a first container, the first container containing source material that includes at least one target material; a radiation generator; a radiation bombardment chamber that receives radiation from the radiation generator, the radiation bombardment chamber adapted to hold and expose the one or more containers to the received radiation, thereby creating at least some first radioisotopes that are a direct product of the exposure of the target material to the radiation; an insertion component adapted to transfer an extraction material into the first container, thereby contacting the source material within the first container with the extraction material, the extraction material selected to dissolve, without dissolving the target material, one or more of a first radioisotope, a second radioisotope that is a daughter product of a first radioisotope, or both a first radioisotope and a second radioisotope; and an extraction component adapted to remove extraction material with the dissolved radioisotope from the first container without removing the target material from the first container.

20 . A method for selectively manufacturing a radioisotope, the method comprising:
selecting the radioisotope; identifying a target material from which the selected radioisotope can be created as a fission product; determining a recoil distance of the selected radioisotope in the target material; creating a plurality of grains of target material having a grain size based on the recoil distance of the selected radioisotope; exposing the grains of target material to neutrons, thereby causing at least some atoms of the target material to undergo nuclear fission to create atoms of the selected radioisotope and also causing at least some of the newly created atoms of the selected radioisotope to move the recoil distance relative to the target material; and extracting atoms of the selected radioisotope from the target material.

Assignees

• Terrapower Llc

Inventors

• Czerwinski Ken
• Walter Joshua C

Classifications

• G21G2001/0036

  Molybdenum · CPC title

• B01D11/0403

  with a supercritical fluid · CPC title

• G21G1/02 Primary

  in nuclear reactors (by thermonuclear reactions G21B; conversion of nuclear fuel G21C) · CPC title

• G21G1/08

  accompanied by nuclear fission · CPC title

• G21C19/42 Primary

  Reprocessing of irradiated fuel · CPC title