The use of offline sources is facilitating the stand-alone operation of the ReA (Re-accelerator) at the National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory (NSCL) after the coupled-cyclotron facility ceased operation. To supplement this experimental research program, ~5 mCi 7Be (t1/2 = 53.22 d, Eγ = 477.60 keV, Iγ = 10.44 %), a cosmogenic radionuclide, was required. This would be placed in the Batch-mode Ion Source (BMIS), which provides beams of stable or long-lived radioactive isotopes, consisting of an oven, coupled to an ion-source system with arrangements for beam transport. Due to the commercial non-availability of this rare isotope in sufficient quantity for ReA experiments, a production route through 10B(p,α)7Be reaction was explored at the University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) Cyclotron facility and a subsequent separation methodology was developed. A total of 7 irradiations were carried out at the UAB Cyclotron with a 17.5 MeV proton beam with natural and 10B enriched boron powder targets which led to the production of 9.27 mCi 7Be in total. This boron powder was then dissolved in concentrated HNO3 followed by separation of 7Be from the bulk boron in HNO3 medium employing the use of cation exchange chromatographic resin AG MP-50. A &gt;90% 7Be separation efficiency was achieved which was tracked with the gamma spectroscopy. The purified 7Be fractions were then evaporated and reconstituted in a small volume of 0.1 M HCl and deposited onto tantalum foils for introduction into the BMIS for 7Be beam delivery experiments. Through this experiment, we produced and delivered ~5 mCi 7Be to support the ongoing ReA experimental program of NSCL and established a radiochemical methodology for separating 7Be from a boron target.

Production and separation of 7be for ion-source preparation for national superconducting cyclotron laboratory

ACS Spring 2022

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