Thermochromatographic separation of 206,208Po from a bismuth target bombarded with protons

The artificially produced isotopes of polonium are valuable tracers for radiochemical procedures for the determination of natural 210Po. In this work, the isotopes of polonium (206Po to 208Po) were produced by activation of metallic bismuth targets with 40 MeV protons. The thick target yield of 206Po was 16 MBq/ěAh. Polonium was separated from bismuth by a thermochromatographic method under reduced pressure in static conditions. The bismuth target can be considered as the multiple-use material.