Patent ID: 7597862

Claim:
A liquid-liquid extraction system for recovering at least one daughter isotope from a radioisotope mixture comprising uranium and thorium, the liquid-liquid extraction system comprising: a source of a radioisotope mixture comprising uranium and thorium; and an apparatus comprising: a first vessel comprising a plurality of radial vanes coupled to a hollow rotor, the first vessel configured to contact a first aqueous phase comprising the radioisotope mixture comprising uranium and thorium with an organic phase, to extract the uranium and thorium into the organic phase, and to separate the organic phase including the extracted uranium and thorium from the first aqueous phase; a second vessel comprising a plurality of radial vanes coupled to a hollow rotor, the second vessel operatively coupled to the first vessel and configured to substantially continuously contact the organic phase including the uranium and thorium with a second aqueous phase, to extract at least one daughter isotope of uranium and thorium from the organic phase into the second aqueous phase, and to separate the second aqueous phase including the extracted at least one daughter isotope of uranium and thorium from the organic phase; and at least one separation column operatively coupled to the second vessel and configured to purify the at least one daughter isotope of uranium and thorium from the second aqueous phase.