Monte Carlo simulation of ⁶⁴Cu production

Abstract

Cooper-64 (64Cu) has good potential for use in the diagnosis and treatment of tumors. It can be produced by irradiating an enriched 64Ni target with a small proton cyclotron system. Based on the demand for 64Cu, a suitable production plan can be developed. Due to the high cost of 64Ni, it is important to simulate the production process in order to find a cost-effective method for producing 64Cu. In this work, Geant4 software was used in conjunction with the Evaluated Nuclear Data File (ENDF/B-VII.1) and the TALYS-based Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (TENDL-2019) to calculate the 64Ni(p,n)64Cu reaction cross section. The TRIM code was then used to calculate the proton projection range in the 64Ni target. Finally, the saturation yield of 64Cu was obtained for proton energies between 2 MeV and 20 MeV and target thicknesses ranging from 0.1 mm to 1 mm.