FLUKA simulation yields in a comparison with theoretical and experimental yields relevant to ⁸⁹Zr produced in the ⁸⁹Y(p,n) reaction

Abstract

The high importance of zirconium-89 (T1/2 = 78.41 h) is related to its applications in medical imaging. It can be produced at low-energy cyclotrons by the reaction 89Y(p,n)89Zr. There exist several publications on its production at low and intermediate energies but there is discrepancy with simulated data. In this study we considered the experimental parameters for four different types of yttrium foil targets reported in literature. The experimental parameters considered were the target geometry, beam profile, and angle of the target relative to the beam during irradiation. The Monte-Carlo code FLUKA was used to calculate production yields. The resulting values obtained by FLUKA from pencil beam or spread energy beam were compared to the theoretical yields obtained from the excitation function and the experimental ones. The FLUKA prediction for 89Z-yield reached ≈50 MBq/μA · h which agrees to a high extent with experimental and theoretical yields reported for the different targets.