Generator Development: Up-to-Date Recovery Technologies for Increasing the Effectiveness of Utilisation

A review on the sources available today and on the generators developed up to date for increasing the effectiveness of utilisation is performed in the format of detailed description of the features and technical performance of the technological groups of the production and recovery. The latest results of the endeavour in this field are also surveyed in regard of the technical solution for overcoming the shortage of supply. The technological topics are grouped and discussed in a way to reflect the similarity in the technological process of each group. The following groups are included in this review which are high specific activity : the current issues of production, the efforts of more effective utilisation, and the high specific activity -based generator and concentration units; low specific activity : the production based on neutron capture and accelerators and the direct production of and the methods of increasing the specific activity of using Szilard-Chalmers reaction and high electric power isotopic separator; up-to-date technologies of recovery from low specific activity : the solvent extraction-based generator, the sublimation methods for / separation, the electrochemical method for recovery, and the column chromatographic methods for recovery. Besides the traditional -generator systems, the integrated generator systems ( generator column combined with postelution purification/concentration unit) are discussed with the format of process diagram and picture of real generator systems. These systems are the technetium selective sorbent column-based generators, the high Mo-loading capacity column-based integrated generator systems which include the saline-eluted generator systems, and the nonsaline aqueous and organic solvent eluent-eluted generator systems using high Mo-loading capacity molybdategel and recently developed sorbent columns. concentration methods used in the recovery from low specific activity are also discussed with detailed process diagrams which are surveyed in two groups for concentration from the saline and nonsaline -eluates. The evaluation methods for the performance of -recovery/concentration process and for the -elution capability versus Mo-loading capacity of generator column produced using low specific activity source are briefly reported. Together with the theoretical aspects of / and sorbent chemistry, these evaluation/assessment processes will be useful for any further development in the field of the recovery and / generator production. 1. Introduction The development of the original generator was carried out by Walter