Preparation Of A Carrier Free Sb-124 Tracer Produced In The Sn (P, N) Reaction

A carrier-free Sb-124 tracer was prepared for determining radioactive Sb-125 in highly contaminated and radioactive soil like one taken near the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The excitation function for the Sb-124 production was measured and compared to previous works to identify the optimum proton energy for the Sn-124 (p, n) reaction by a stack method. The maximum production of Sb-124 in the reaction was found at an incident proton beam energy of 8-9 MeV. Except for Sb-124, the reaction produced short-lived by-products and practically no Sb-125. Antimony was isolated from tin matrix by dissolving the irradiated target and extracting to isoamyl acetate. Then the carrierfree Sb-124 tracer solution was purified by passing it through an anion exchange resin column. The radioactivity of Sb-124 was recovered to more than 50% of the production, and provided successfully as a tracer solution free from tin due to the examined chemical procedure.