A californium product that is enriched in 251Cf has been recovered for use in establishment of a new route for super-heavy element (SHE) research.  This neutron rich isotope provides feed material for SHE research that has sufficiently low radioactivity to enable safe target production and handling for experiments to access elements Z=118 and above.  The focus of this work was the processing of old 252Cf neutron sources in storage at ORNL.  These sources have decayed for over 30 years thus providing material with a very high 251Cf to 252Cf ratio.  After the capsules were opened, the Cf was purified and electrodeposited onto thin titanium foils for use in the accelerator at Dubna, Russia.  Presented will be the processing and chemical steps involved in the capsules recovery, sample dissolution, chemical separation, and electrodeposition.

Recovery and target production of Cf-251 for super heavy element research

245th National Meeting (2013)

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