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

Zr (T = 3.27 d) is an important β-emitting radionuclide of zirconium used in immuno PET. The excitation functions of the Y(d,2n)Zr and Y(p,n)Zr reactions were analyzed to deduce the optimum conditions for the high purity production of Zr. 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 Zr was precisely analyzed for both the proton and the deuteron induced reactions on the Y target.