Combination of DGA and LN Columns: A Versatile Option for Isotope Production and Purification at Oak Ridge National Laboratory

The chromatographic resins DGA and LN have been used sequentially to separate curium, californium, plutonium, and various fission products (FPs) to obtain products with a pure radioisotope or a radioelement with high isotopic purity. This 2-step combination of resins has found applications in the ²⁵²Cf and ²³⁸Pu campaigns performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Experiments have been carried out in glove boxes, shielded caves, and hot cells, demonstrating that these resins are adequate and maintain their performance in highly radiolytic environments. Using these resins has led to the recovery of curium highly enriched (>95%) in ²⁴⁸Cm, the clean separation of ²⁵¹Cf for the superheavy element research, and the recovery of ¹⁴⁷Pm from the FP stream obtained during the ²³⁸Pu production campaign while demonstrating that the raffinate post DGA is essentially free of transuranic elements.