The actinium generator described herein is based on peroxide precipitation of thorium from its daughter products radium and actinium. In this system, the “actinium generator” is a quantity of solid thorium peroxide stored under a cover solution. The thorium peroxide is stored as a suspension to allow for the buildup of the decay products radium and actinium in the suspension. The suspension is then treated with a peroxide solution and the solid and liquid phases are separated. The thorium remains in the solid peroxide form while the soluble actinium and radium are removed with the liquid phase in a rinsing step. After rinsing, an amount of the rinsing solution is retained with the thorium peroxide solid as a fresh cover solution to form another suspension for storage. This new suspension is then stored to allow actinium and radium to again build up in the suspension for a subsequent separation cycle.

In one aspect, the technology relates to a method of producing Ac, the method including preparing a phosphate-modified titania material to produce an ion-exchange material, contacting a solution including .sup.229Th with the ion-exchange material to produce a Th-loaded titania material, eluting the Th-loaded titania material with a wash solution to produce an eluted solution containing eluted compounds including .sup.225Ac, concentrating the eluted solution to generate eluted compounds including the .sup.225Ac, and separating the .sup.225Ac from the eluted compounds.

A method for purifying Ac from a mixture includes Ac and at least one element selected from Ra, Pb, Po, Bi and La. The method includes the steps of: (a) performing a first separation using a first extraction chromatographic column based on a first resin (either a diglycolamide resin or a dialkylphosphoric acid resin) and a first matrix solution; and (b) performing a second separation using a second extraction chromatographic column based on a second resin (respectively either a dialkylphosphoric acid resin or a diglycolamide resin).

A method for producing .sup.225Ac solution includes steps (I) to (III): a step (I) of passing a solution containing .sup.226Ra and .sup.225Ac through a solid-phase extraction agent (a) that contains a compound represented by formula (A) so as to cause the solid-phase extraction agent (a) to retain .sup.225Ac; a step (II) of passing a liquid containing an eluate, which is obtained by eluting the retained .sup.225Ac from the solid-phase extraction agent (a), through a solid-phase extraction agent (b) that contains a compound represented by formula (B) so as to cause the solid-phase extraction agent (b) to retain .sup.225Ac; and a step (III) of eluting the retained .sup.225Ac from the solid-phase extraction agent (b) to obtain an .sup.225Ac solution.

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A method for obtaining .sup.225AC from .sup.225Ra having the steps of assembling a column having an inorganic stationary phase; priming the column to immobilize .sup.226Ra .sup.225Ra and natural decay products therefrom; immobilizing the .sup.226Ra, .sup.225Ra, .sup.224Ra, and natural decay products therefrom onto a stationary phase within the column; and eluting the column containing the .sup.225Ra with an aqueous sulfate solution to obtain a milking effluent that contains .sup.225AC. Also provided is a method for obtaining pure .sup.225AC from its isotope parents, the method comprising assembling a column having a stationary phase comprising an inorganic material; priming the column with the isotope parents to immobilize .sup.225Ac, and natural decay products of .sup.225AC; immobilizing the .sup.225Ac, and natural decay products therefrom onto the stationary phase within the column .sup.226Ra, .sup.225Ra, .sup.224Ra; and eluting the column containing the .sup.225AC to obtain an effluent that contains the isotope parents.

A method for separating metal ions from a liquid includes a step of providing a solution having metal-containing ions and associated negative counter ions in a liquid. The metal-containing ions are contacted with a dendrimer to form solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes. The solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes are separated from the solution.

A method of separating actinium and/or radium from proton-irradiated thorium metal. The thorium metal is irradiated to produce isotopes including thorium, actinium and/or radium. The resultant product is dissolved in solution and a selective precipitant is used to precipitate a bulk portion of the thorium. The precipitated thorium can be recovered. Chromatography is carried out on the remaining solution to remove residual thorium and to separate the actinium from the radium.

The invention provides a method for isolating medical isotopes, the method having the steps of dissolving titanium nuclear targets to create a solution; contacting the solution with a resin so as to retain the isotopes on the resin and generate an eluent containing titanium; contacting the isotope-containing resin with acid of a first concentration to remove impurities from the resin; and contacting the isotope-containing resin with an acid of a second concentration to remove isotope from the resin.

The present invention is directed to a method for the separation of an actinide from another metal. The method comprises the following steps: (a) establishing a non-homogeneous magnetic field across a separation column containing a paramagnetic packing material and (b) providing a fluid containing the actinide and the another metal to the separation column wherein the fluid and the paramagnetic packing material are exposed to the non-homogeneous magnetic field. The non-homogeneous magnetic field is produced by a magnet having a first pole for magnetic interaction with a second pole of the magnet wherein the first pole has a different surface area than the second pole. The non-homogeneous magnetic field has a magnetic field gradient of about 500 lines/cm.sup.2/cm or more. In addition, the present invention is also directed to a method for the separation of one heavy metal from another heavy metal.

The proposed invention relates to processes for extracting and concentrating radionuclides and can be used in radiochemical technologies when treating liquid radioactive waste. The method for isolating americium from liquid radioactive waste and for separating americium from rare earth elements in a single extraction cycle involves joint extraction of americium and rare earth elements from a nitric acid radioactive solution with a neutral solution of an organic extraction agent in a polar fluorinated solvent; washing an obtained organic phase saturated with metals; and selective back extraction of americium, wherein the extraction agent for joint extraction is N,N,N,N-tetraalkylamide of diglycolic acid, and a solution for back extraction is a composition of 5-20 g/l of a complexone, 5-60 g/l of a nitrogen-containing organic acid and 60-240 g/l of a salting-out agent.