Calculated Radioactivity Yields of Gallium-67 using Matlab Codes

Abstract

In nuclear medicine, gallium-67 (⁶⁷Ga) is potentially applied for imaging a certain type of tissue. In this investigation, ⁶⁷Ga is theoretically studied in terms of its potential radioactivity yields at the end of various energetic proton bombardments.  Nuclear cross-sections derived from the Talys Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (TENDL) 2017 were used as the input files, while a Matlab code was developed to perform the yield calculations of ⁶⁷Zn(p,n)⁶⁷Ga and ⁶⁸Zn(p,2n)⁶⁷Ga nuclear reactions to produce ⁶⁷Ga. Two different targets – enriched ⁶⁷Zn and ^natZn targets – were simulated in the calculations. The calculated yields suggested that a maximum of 27.37 MBq/µAh could be achieved when enriched ⁶⁷Zn target was irradiated with 15-MeV protons, whereas 46.99 MBq/µAh could be generated following a 30 MeV proton bombardment of enriched ⁶⁸Zn target. Various radioactive gallium impurities, i.e. ^{63,64,65,66,68,70}Ga and stable ⁶⁹Ga isotope were also expected to be generated mostly via (p,n) and (p,2n) reactions when ^natZn target was used in the ⁶⁷Ga production. In contrast, radioactive ⁶⁶Ga and ⁶⁸Ga impurities were mainly produced following bombardment of enriched ⁶⁷Zn and ⁶⁸Zn targets. This study can be used as a reference for future ⁶⁷Ga radionuclide production.