Chemical separation of uranium-233 from neutron-irradiated 232ThO2 targets using a dual-column technique

Abstract

Uranium-233 (²³³U) is an important synthetic isotope and used as isotope dilution references for safeguards, non-proliferation, and nuclear forensics measurements. In this work, the chemical separation of ²³³U from irradiated ²³²ThO₂ targets has been evaluated by a dual-column technique, where a stacked columns of Dowex 1 × 8 anion exchange resin and Dowex 50 × 8 cation exchange resin were applied. The dual-column method is simple with an overall ²³³U recovery yield of 98 ± 1 %. The isotope purity of ²³³U (>99 %) was confirmed and meeting the recommendations according to the quality requirements of isotope dilution mass spectrometry references.