-
Chemist Kevin Gaddis has adapted components of a high pressure ion chromatography system
to withstand the extreme conditions of a hot cell. The pump-driven system could cut the time needed
for isotope separations by 75%. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy -
Chemist Kevin Gaddis built a control panel for the HPIC that uses air pressure instead of
electronics, so that it can used inside a hot cell during the processing of actinium-225. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy -
Initially, Kevin Gaddis’s adapted HPIC will be used only for the fourth of six separations in
actinium-225 processing, but he hopes it will later be used for other separations — and other isotopes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
-
Chemist Kevin Gaddis has adapted components of a high pressure ion chromatography system
to withstand the extreme conditions of a hot cell. The pump-driven system could cut the time needed
for isotope separations by 75%. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy -
Chemist Kevin Gaddis built a control panel for the HPIC that uses air pressure instead of
electronics, so that it can used inside a hot cell during the processing of actinium-225. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy -
Initially, Kevin Gaddis’s adapted HPIC will be used only for the fourth of six separations in
actinium-225 processing, but he hopes it will later be used for other separations — and other isotopes. Credit: Carlos Jones/ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy
An Oak Ridge National Laboratory researcher has invented a version of an isotope-separating device that can withstand extreme environments, including radiation and chemical solvents.
ORNL’s Kevin Gaddis designed the automated high pressure ion chromatography, or HPIC, system to improve purification of actinium-225, an isotope used in cancer treatments, from thorium targets that have been irradiated in a particle accelerator.
Previously, technicians relied on gravity to perform separations in hot cells, since high radiation levels would destroy an HPIC’s electronic components. Gaddis used radiation-tolerant materials to build a HPIC that uses air pressure, not electricity, to control the flow of the sample and chemicals that separate Ac-225 from byproducts. In tests, the HPIC cut separations time by 75%.
That’s important because demand is high for Ac-225, which has a short half-life. “Hours matter,” Gaddis said. “If we can reduce the time for the separation, we can get more product out.”
