Enrichment of Copper-64 by the Szilard Chalmers Process

Bisacetylacetone-ethylenednmino-Cu(II) was used as target material for an investigation on the enrichment of 64Gu by the Szilard-Chalmers process. The recoiling radioactive copper was extracted from the target with aqueous solutions of various electrolytes in different concentrations. An enrichment factor as high as ca. 720 was observed under optimum conditions. It was found that the enrichment factor lowers with increasing irradiation time. The effect of cooling time on the enrichment factor of 64Cu was also investigated.