Separation of no-carrier-added 64Cu from a proton irradiated 64Ni enriched nickel target.

An ion exchange method has been developed to separate no-carrier-added 64Cu from irradiated Ni target. The target is first dissolved in nitric acid and the solution is evaporated to dryness and the residue is dissolved in an ethanol-HCl solution. Cu, Co and Ni in ethanol-HCl solution are then absorbed on an anion exchange column. Co and Ni are removed from the column by eluting with 72% ethanol-0.3 mol/l HCl. Finally, the 64Cu is eluted with water. For separating Ni from Co isotopes and recovering the 64Ni target, the eluate of 72% ethanol-0.3 mol/l HCl is evaporated to dryness, the residue is dissolved in a concentrated HCl solution, and loaded to an another column, Ni is eluted by 9 mol/l HCl, while Co remains on the column. The procedure developed has been successfully applied for the production of no-carrier-added 64Cu from enriched 64Ni generated by the reaction 64Ni(p,n)64Cu using a cyclotron. The decontamination of Co in Cu fraction is higher than 99% and recoveries of 64Cu and 64Ni are higher than 95%.