The ⁶⁴Zn-based production route to ⁶⁴Cu β^± emitter using accelerator-driven 14 MeV fusion neutrons

¹ ENEA, Department of Fusion and Technologies for Nuclear Safety and Security (FSN), Frascati Research Centre - Via E. Fermi 45, I-00044 Frascati (Rome), Italy
² ENEA, Italian National Institute of Ionizing Radiation Metrology (INMRI), Casaccia Research Centre - Via Anguillarese 301, I-00123 Rome, Italy
³ ENEA, Nuclear Material Characterization Laboratory and Nuclear Waste Management (NMLNWM), Casaccia Research Centre - Via Anguillarese 301, I-00123 Rome, Italy
⁴ University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Department of Physics - P.le Aldo Moro 2, I-00185, Rome, Italy
⁵ ENEA, Department of Fusion and Technologies for Nuclear Safety and Security (FSN), Bologna Research Centre - Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, I-40129 Bologna, Italy

^(a) marco.capogni@enea.it (corresponding author)

Received: 14 August 2021
Accepted: 31 March 2022

Abstract

The development of personalized medicine is important to avoid unnecessary and expensive treatments. The theranostic approach is an established tool for specific molecular targeting, both for diagnostics and therapy. Radionuclides used for theranostic radiopharmaceuticals are typically produced in nuclear fission reactors or bio-medical cyclotrons. Here, an alternative route for producing an emerging theranostic radionuclide, namely ⁶⁴Cu, is investigated by using 14 MeV fusion neutrons produced by the Frascati Neutron Generator (FNG) at the ENEA Frascati Research Centre. Samples of zinc (natural and ⁶⁴Zn-enriched) were irradiated and characterized, in turn being measured at high-level metrological conditions, at the Radioactivity Laboratory of ENEA-INMRI located in Casaccia Research Centre. The results achieved in the experiments are presented and compared to those obtained by Monte Carlo simulations and previously published experimental data.