Solid-phase isotope harvesting of ⁸⁸Zr from a radioactive ion beam facility

During routine operation of the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), radionuclides will accumulate in both the aqueous beam dump and along the beamline in the process of beam purification. These byproduct radionuclides, many of which are far from stability, can be collected and purified for use in other scientific applications in a process called isotope harvesting. In this work, the viability of ⁸⁸Zr harvesting from solid components was investigated at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory. A secondary ⁸⁸Zr beam was stopped in a series of collectors comprised of Al, Cu, W, and Au foils. This work details irradiation of the collector foils and the subsequent radiochemical processing to isolate the deposited ⁸⁸Zr (and its daughter ⁸⁸Y) from them. Total average recovery from the Al, Cu, and Au collector foils was (91.3 ± 8.9) % for ⁸⁸Zr and (95.0 ± 5.8) % for ⁸⁸Y, respectively, which is over three times higher recovery than in a previous aqueous-phase harvesting experiment. The utility of solid-phase isotope harvesting to access elements such as Zr that readily hydrolyze in near-neutral pH aqueous conditions has been demonstrated for application to harvesting from solid components at FRIB.