Evaluation of nuclear reaction cross sections for optimization of production of the important non-standard positron emitting radionuclide 89Zr using proton and deuteron induced reactions on 89Y target

Abstract 89Zr (T1/2 = 3.27 d) is an important β+-emitting radionuclide of zirconium used in immuno PET. The excitation functions of the 89Y(d,2n)89Zr and 89Y(p,n)89Zr reactions were analyzed to deduce the optimum conditions for the high purity production of 89Zr. The nuclear model codes ALICE-IPPE, EMPIRE 3.2 and TALYS 1.9 were used to check the consistency and reliability of the experimental data. A polynomial fit to the chosen data for each reaction gave the excitation function, which was then used for the integral yield calculation of the product. The amount of the major radioactive impurity 88Zr was precisely analyzed for both the proton and the deuteron induced reactions on the 89Y target.