Development of a titanium tungstate-based ¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re gel generator using tungsten of natural isotopic abundance

The feasibility of developing titanium tungstate-based ¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re gel generator using tungsten of natural isotopic abundance irradiated in a moderate flux reactor has been investigated. Influence of temperature, pH and eluent concentration on generator performance was studied. It was found that "post-formed" approach allows to construct gel generators with elution performance and ¹⁸⁸Re elution yields very close to those of conventional alumina ¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re generator. Curie-level ¹⁸⁵W radionuclidic impurity presents a challenge during the processing of target material and subsequent elution of the generator. In the future use of semi-enriched with ¹⁸⁶W target material (50-60% enrichment) would be beneficial in the development of titanium tungstate-based ¹⁸⁸W/¹⁸⁸Re gel generators.