Accelerator Production Method in ¹⁴⁰Nd/¹⁴⁰Pr Radioisotope Generator Based on Electron Capture

Abstract

¹⁴⁰Nd/¹⁴⁰Pr radioisotope generator has importance for cancer diagnosis purposes and promises as an in vivo generator in positron emission tomography (PET). ¹⁴⁰Nd/¹⁴⁰Pr radioisotope generator is based on physicochemical processes, such as electron capture (EC), between parent (¹⁴⁰Nd) and daughter (¹⁴⁰Pr) radioisotopes. The production of the parent ¹⁴⁰Nd radioisotope was performed by particle accelerators using charged particle induced reaction processes for energy region of E_particle = 100 → 1 MeV in irradiation time of 1 h with constant beam current of 1 µA. In addition to the production of the parent ¹⁴⁰Nd radioisotope, we also considered the direct production of ¹⁴⁰Pr radioisotope via particle accelerators at the same conditions because ¹⁴⁰Pr radioisotope in low-budget facilities can be directly used in PET scans such as in hospitals due to its short half-life. Hence, the cross-section and integral yield curves of reaction processes were calculated as dependent on projectile energies, and activities and yields of products were simulated. The obtained results were compared with the experimental data in the literature and provided new nuclear data to the literature which lead to the experimentalist.