Uranium electrodeposition for irradiation targets production

• Grant number: 10/01244-2
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2010
• End date: June 30, 2012
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Nuclear Engineering - Applications of Radioisotopes
• Principal Investigator: Adonis Marcelo Saliba Silva
• Grantee: Adonis Marcelo Saliba Silva
• Host Institution: Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (IPEN). Secretaria de Desenvolvimento Econômico (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Fátima Maria Sequeira de Carvalho

Abstract

The uranium electrodeposition is researched with several aims. One of main lines is the production of irradiation target to generate the radionuclide pair 99Mo-99mTc and 131I, used as radiodiagnosis agents. The electrodeposition is still used to prepare plated tubes with enriched uranium to measure neutronic flux in fission chambers and to prepare samples for alpha spectroscopy. The electrodeposition depends on the electrochemical window of reduction potentials to produce uranium, which is not favorable in aqueous media. There are several methods to amplify this window and, so, accelerate the deposited amount and to improve the physical properties of deposited layer. The electrodeposition could happen as metal or oxide form. In the present project, it intended to achieve a process, which is technologically viable for production of irradiation target to produce the radionuclide pair Mo-Tc, since there is a restrained demand for nuclear material in Brazil. (AU)