Chemical Enrichment of Mercury Isotopes by Neutron Irradiation of Diphenylmercury in Solution

Radiomercury has been obtained by means of the Szilard-Chalmers effect with enrichment factors in excess of one thousand for short irradiations. The mercury activity is deposited on polyethylene surfaces from neutron irradiated solutions of diphenylmercury. The enrichment factor and yield have been measured for several choices of solvent, solution concentration, irradiation dose, and postirradiation storage time.