Proof-of-concept studies of novel protocols for producing highly pure ⁴⁸V from a ⁴⁸Cr/⁴⁸V generator

The quest to improve the quality of nuclear data, such as half-lives, transition yields, and reaction cross-sections, is a shared endeavor among various areas of nuclear science. ⁴⁸V is a vanadium isotope for which experimental data on neutron reaction cross-sections is needed. However, traditional isotope production techniques cannot produce ⁴⁸V with high enough isotopic purity for some of these measurements. "Isotope harvesting" at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) is a new isotope production technique that could potentially yield ⁴⁸V with the necessary purity for such studies. In this case, ⁴⁸Cr would be collected and allowed to generate ⁴⁸V that can be separated from undecayed ⁴⁸Cr to yield highly pure ⁴⁸V. Thus, any protocol for producing pure ⁴⁸V via isotope harvesting would involve utilizing a separation technique that can effectively separate ⁴⁸Cr and ⁴⁸V. In this study, the radiotracers ⁵¹Cr and ⁴⁸V were used to develop possible radiochemical separation methodologies, which can be translated to obtain high purity ⁴⁸V via this novel isotope production method. The developed protocols utilize either ion exchange or extraction chromatographic resins. Separations of ⁵¹Cr and ⁴⁸V with AG 1-X8 anion exchange resin respectively resulted in recoveries of 95.6(26)% and 96.2(12)% with radionuclidic purities of 92(2)% and 99(1)%. An even more effective Cr and V separation was obtained with an extraction chromatographic resin (TRU resin) and 10 M HNO₃ loading solution. Here, ⁵¹Cr and ⁴⁸V respectively had recoveries of 94.1(28)% and 96.2(13)% with high radionuclidic purities (100(2)% and 100(1)%) in small volumes (8.81(8) mL and 5.39(16) mL). This study suggests that, to maximize the yield and isotopic purity of ⁴⁸V, the best production protocol would involve utilizing two separations with TRU resin and 10 M HNO₃ to isolate ⁴⁸Cr and purify the generated ⁴⁸V.