Separation of no-carrier-added 64Cu from a proton irradiated 64Ni enriched nickel target

An ion exchange method has been developed to separate no-carrier-added 64Cu from irradiated Ni target. The target is first dissolved in nitric acid and the solution is evaporated to dryness and the residue is dissolved in an ethanol–HCl solution. Cu, Co and Ni in ethanol–HCl solution are then absorbed on an anion exchange column. Co and Ni are removed from the column by eluting with 72% ethanol–0.3 mol/l HCl. Finally, the 64Cu is eluted with water. For separating Ni from Co isotopes and recovering the 64Ni target, the eluate of 72% ethanol–0.3 mol/l HCl is evaporated to dryness, the residue is dissolved in a concentrated HCl solution, and loaded to an another column, Ni is eluted by 9 mol/l HCl, while Co remains on the column. The procedure developed has been successfully applied for the production of no-carrier-added 64Cu from enriched 64Ni generated by the reaction 64Ni(p, n)64Cu using a cyclotron. The decontamination of Co in Cu fraction is higher than 99% and recoveries of 64Cu and 64Ni are higher than 95%.