Measurement of the proton-induced reaction cross-sections of ^natZr(p,xn)^{86,87m,87(m+g),88}Y up to 40 MeV

We measured the production cross-sections of ^{86,87m,87(m+g),88}Y radioisotopes for proton-induced reactions on natural zirconium by using a stacked-foil activation technique in the energy range of 4-40 MeV at the MC50 cyclotron of the Korean Institute of Radiological and Medical Sciences. The activation method and the stacked-foil technique using the high-resolution HPGe gamma spectrometry were applied to determine the production cross-sections. The beam current was determined by the monitor reactions ^natCu(p,x)⁶²Zn and ²⁷Al(p,x)^22,24Na. This work reports new data for the above reactions. The results were also compared with ALICE-IPPE model calculations compiled in MENDL-2P file. This experiment is in partial agreement with model calculations. The optimum energy range of the production of ⁸⁶Y is 40 - 30 MeV. The highest yield of ⁸⁶Y amounts to 33.37 MBq/μAh over this energy range and the levels of the ⁸⁷Y, ^87mY and ⁸⁸Y impurities to 2.3, 26.55 and 0.33%, respectively at EOB. The ^natZr(p,x) process may be a suitable route for the production of the medically important radioisotope ⁸⁶Y. (author)