New production routes for medical isotopes Cu and Cu using accelerator neutrons

Kin, Tadahiro*; Nagai, Yasuki; Iwamoto, Nobuyuki  ; Minato, Futoshi   ; Iwamoto, Osamu  ; Hatsukawa, Yuichi; Segawa, Mariko   ; Harada, Hideo   ; Konno, Chikara  ; Ochiai, Kentaro; Takakura, Kosuke

We have measured the activation cross sections producing Cu and Cu, promising medical radioisotopes for molecular imaging and radioimmunotherapy, by bombarding a natural zinc sample with 14 MeV neutrons. We estimated the production yields of Cu and Cu by fast neutrons from C(d,n) with 40 MeV 5 mA deuterons. The calculated Cu yield is 1.8 TBq (175 g Zn) for 12 h of irradiation; the yields of Cu by Zn(n,p)Cu and Zn(n,x)Cu were 249 GBq (184 g Zn) and 287 GBq (186 g Zn) at the end of 2 days of irradiation, respectively. From the results, we proposed a new route to produce Cu with very little radionuclide impurity via the Zn(n,x)Cu reaction, and showed the Zn(n,p)Cu reaction to be a promising route to produce Cu.