Zircon (zirconium raw material) isn't very expensive. Removing hafnium from zirconium compounds to reach nuclear-application purity is expensive. Reducing zirco

Zircon (zirconium raw material) isn't very expensive. Removing hafnium from zirconium compounds to reach nuclear-application purity is expensive. Reducing zirconium compounds to metal is expensive. The authors start with zirconyl chloride, which doesn't have either of those expensive requirements. For anyone else wanting to read the full paper, it's open access in Nature Communications: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03162-7 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03162-7