The production of 88Y in the proton bombardment of natSr: New excitation and separation studies

The cyclotron production of 88Y at iThemba LABS is performed via the reaction 88Sr(p,n)88Y. The yields obtained were inconsistent with nuclear data obtained from the literature and the excitation function of the nuclear reaction was re-measured, using a differentiation of thick-target production rate measurements. Ion exchange chromatographic methods are described to separate 88Y from natSr target material using AG MP-1 resin and AG 50W-X4 resins, respectively.