The MOCVD process, as designed and operated by CVDS™, results in a
high purity metal product, leaving all possible contaminants in the
reactor, to be disposed of according to the regulations of the host
country. CVDS™'s processed
nickel was chosen for the multi-national Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
(SNO) {http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca}
project, because of the high degree of purity of the nickel.
The process used by CVDS™,
thermolysis of Ni(CO)4, lends itself well to the production of ultra-pure
nickel because contaminants, in general, do not undergo the same chemistry.
The University of Washington's Department of Physics has carried out
a number of tests on our nickel products, searching for radioactive
contaminants, especially the naturally occurring U and Th chains, and
found none. Upper limits on these contaminants (within the range of
a few picograms per gram) were set in contrast to the million-fold higher
levels typically found in metallurgical samples. Total contained radioactivity
levels were found to be less than 60 disintegrations per Kg per day.
Similarly, chemical analysis and radiochemical neutron activation analysis
showed no detectable foreign material. In December 1999, the University
of Washington's Department of Physics issued a statement to the U.S.
department of Energy, stating that: "The nickel supplied …by CVDS [was]
extremely pure."
