IonLab – a remote-controlled experiment for academic and vocational education and training on extraction chromatography and ion exchange

As a major contribution to modern web-based education and training in nuclear chemistry we have built and operated a remote-controlled experiment – IonLab – as part of the integrated EUFP7 project CINCHII. The setup is suitable for teaching basics on extraction chromatography and ion exchange using radionuclides. We describe separation of the beta emitting nuclides Sr-90 and Y-90 followed by radiometric detection, but the experiment is easily adapted to other separation schemes. This approach is aimed at institutions in academic or vocational education who need to convey the skills of handling radioactive (or otherwise dangerous, e.g. biotoxic) substances without appropriately licensed laboratory space for teaching. This camera-monitored remote controlled lab experiment has proved to be much closer to a real hands-on training and superior to a mere computer simulation.