A Laboratory Setup for Increasing the Technological Yield of 123I from a 124Xe Target under Proton Bombardment

One of the methods for obtaining ¹²³I is the bombardment of gaseous ¹²⁴Xe with protons, in which nuclear reactions of production and decay of ¹²³Xe and ¹²³I isotopes occur. After irradiation, the gas phase is condensed from the target into a special “decay container,” in which the target isotope ¹²³I is produced and accumulated during ¹²³Xe decay. The amount of ¹²³I produced in the target and deposited on its walls during the irradiation is comparable to the amount of ¹²³I obtained in the decay container. A laboratory setup has been created and a process technology for extracting ¹²³I from the walls of the target has been developed to increase the total yield of ¹²³I. Organic solvents (acetone and diethyl ether) are used for this purpose. The proportion of the ¹²³I extracted by washing off from the walls of the aluminum target is at least 84%. The loss during subsequent vacuum distillation of solvents does not exceed 5%. After vacuum distillation, the extracted ¹²³I is dissolved in NaOH. At this stage, the efficiency of ¹²³I washing-off with a 0.01 M NaOH solution is at least 95%. Nevertheless, even taking into account these losses, the proposed method makes it possible to additionally extract the ¹²³I radionuclide from the target in an amount equal to or greater than the activity of the ¹²³I produced using the existing technology.