Features of Cu-67 photonuclear production

The isotope Cu-67 is considered as one of the most promising for tumour radiotherapy with monoclonal antibodies. At the same time, available methods for its production using high-flux reactors and cyclotrons do not meet potential market need. The report contains the technological fundamentals of the Cu-67 manufacturing at the electron accelerator through the reaction 68Zn(γ,p)67Cu. Study and optimisation of the Cu-67 yield in the Zn and ZnO targets as well as of the radiation energy absorption in the Bremsstrahlung converter and isotope target were conducted by means of computer simulation. The dependence specific activity of the Cu-67 and admixtures in the target of natural zinc from electron energy in the range of 30...80 MeV has been obtained in the experiment. Comparative analysis of different methods for Cu-67 production is carried out