Speaker
Description
The Auger-emitting nuclides $^{119}Sb$ (for which $^{119m}Te$ is a generator) and $^{117m}Sn$ are promising candidates for the treatment of small tumors and for use in radiosynoviorthesis, but there is little information available regarding the formation of these nuclei when targets are bombarded with high energy protons in large-scale isotope production facilities. A more precise cross section measurement will inform a production pathway with high yield and minimal co-produced impurities. As part of the Tri-Lab Evaluated Nuclear Data Effort (TREND), cross sections for production of these isotopes have been measured for energies up to 200 MeV.
Cross sections for multiple channels were measured for proton-induced reactions up to 55 MeV at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, up to 100 MeV at the Isotope Production Facility at Los Alamos National Lab, and up to 200 MeV at the Brookhaven Linac Isotope Producer at Brookhaven National Lab.
The results of cross section measurements, together with data from other measurements by the TREND collaboration on natural niobium, arsenic and thallium nuclides, will be compared to the predictions from charged particle reaction modeling codes, such as TALYS and EMPIRE, employing physically defensible level density and optical model adjustments as investigated in (Fox et al., 2021). To build on these results, measurements of prompt gamma emissions from irradiations of antimony and thallium will provide yields for both very long-lived or stable isotopes and very short-lived isotopes, as well as detailed information regarding the population of residual nuclei as a function of angular momentum and parity. These additional reaction channels will provide insight into nuclear level density and particle transmission coefficients as a function of excitation energy and will help advise further parameter adjustments in nuclear reaction modeling.
This research is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program, managed by the Office of Science for Isotope R&D and Production, carried out under Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231), Los Alamos National Laboratory (Contract No. 89233218CNA000001), and Brookhaven National Laboratory (Contract No. DEAC02-98CH10886).