Comparison of Copper-61 Radioisotop Production Yield via Reactions of 64Zn(p,α)61Cu, natZn(p,x)61Cu, 61Ni(p,n)61Cu, and natNi(p,x)61Cu in Hospital Cyclotron using TALYS, EMPIRE, and MCNPX Nuclear Codes

Background & Aims:

 Copper-61 (61Cu) is a radioisotope with a half-life of 3.33 hours which decays to nickel-61 isotope byβ+  emission (61%) or electron capture (39%). This radioisotope can be used in the evaluation of the blood supply of the heart and low-oxygen cancer tissues imaging with PET. 61Cu is mainly produced by bombarding zinc (Zn), nickel (Ni) and cobalt (Co) targets in medium cyclotrons. The aim of this study was to investigate the 61Cu production yield via the reactions of 64Zn(p,α)61Cu, natZn(p,x)61Cu, 61Ni(p,n)61Cu, and natNi(p,x)61Cu in hospital cyclotrons.

Materials & Methods:

In this experimental study, the excitation functions of these reactions were calculated by TALYS-1/96 and EMPIRE-3-2-2 codes, and the best energy with highest reaction cross-section and lowest impurity was determined. The stopping power and target thickness at the selected energy were calculated by SRIM-2013 code. 61Cu production yield was obtained by integrating the production yield formula in MATLAB environment, and compared with the results of MCNPX-2/6 simulation and experimental works.

The maximum yield of the TALYS code for 64Zn(p,α)61Cu, natZn(p,x)61Cu, 61Ni(p,n)61Cu, and natNi(p,x)61Cu at 14, 14, 9 and 20 MeV were 113/29, 55/07, 498/51 and 46/51 MBq/µAh, respectively. The maximum yield of the EMPIRE code for 64Zn(p,α)61Cu and 61Ni(p,n)61Cu at 14 and 9 MeV were 183/24 and 497/21 MBq/µAh, respectively. The maximum yield of MCNPX code for 64Zn(p,α)61Cu and 61Ni(p,n)61Cu at 14 and 9 MeV were 90/73 and 470/26 MBq/µAh, respectively. The maximum experimental yield of 64Zn(p,α)61Cu and 61Ni(p,n)61Cu at 14 and 9 MeV were 155 and 461/32 MBq/µAh, respectively.

It could be concluded from the comparison of simulation and experimental results that these results are in concurrence with 61Ni(p,n)61Cu at 9 MeV, and this reaction in this energy is the best reaction for producing 61Cu in hospital cyclotrons.