Capability assessment of production of n.c.a. isotope ¹⁷⁷Lu on the average flux reactor IRT-T

Abstract

The article discusses the possibility of producing 177Lu nuclide at the IRT-T mid-flow research nuclear reactor. The paper presents possible reactions on thermal neutrons with lutetium and ytterbium nuclei, on the basis of which a theoretical calculation of the activity of 177Lu, 177Yb and 175Yb was carried out taking into account the burnup over the entire energy spectrum of the central channel of TsK-1 of the research nuclear reactor IRT-T. The obtained theoretical calculations were verified experimentally by irradiation of enriched ytterbium targets. It is shown that upon irradiation of an enriched ytterbium target with a mass of 10 mg. within 3 weeks, the obtained activity of 177Lu was 23.05 GBq, while the activity of 175Yb was 2.55 GBq. Two Yb2O3 samples with masses of 3.4 and 4.7 mg enriched in 176Yb to 99.59% were irradiated under different conditions. The first sample (4.7 mg) was irradiated at a power of 100 kW for 60 minutes and the activity of 177Lu was 497.42 MBq, and the activity 175Yb was 97.95 MBq. The second sample was irradiated for 20 hours at 6 MW and the activity of 177Lu was 0.805, and the activity 175Yb = 0.155 MBq. Comparison of the calculated data and experimental results showed a convergence of less than 20%. The performed calculations and experiments make it possible to make a preliminary assessment of the activity that can be obtained during the production of the 177Lu isotope at the IRT-T research nuclear reactor, as well as to calculate the necessary radiation protection required for working with radioactive ytterbium and lutetium.