SORPTION BEHAVIOR OF RUTHERFORDIUM AND THORIUM FROM HCL HF CONTAININGAQUEOUS-SOLUTION/

The sorption was studied of element 104 (rutherfordium, Rf) and thoriu m on the strongly acidic cation exchanger DOWEX 50 x 8. The experiment s were carried out on-line. Rf is strongly retained on cation exchange resins from diluted HCl/HF solutions in a concentration range of 0.05 to 0.1 M HCl and HF concentrations up to 0.01 M. This behaviour is si milar to its pseudohomologue thorium and very different from its light er homologue hafnium which is desorbed from DOWEX 50 x 8 at HF concent rations above 10(-3) M. The tested ion exchange system is suitable for fast on-line separation of element 106 (seaborgium, Sg) from all othe r contaminations and its decay product Rf. It, therefore, allows the i ndirect identification of Sg. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.