Excitation Function and Yield for 97Ru Production in 99Tc(p,3n)97Ru Reaction in 20 – 100 MeV Proton Energy Range

Proton-induced reactions on 99Tc target were studied in order to evaluate the 99Tc(p,3n)97Ru reaction as a source of high radionuclidic purity 99Ru. Measurements of excitation functions for the main reaction 99Tc(p,3n)97Ru and competmg 99Tc(p,pxn)99m,96,95Tc reactions were performed in a stacked-foil experiment using gamma spectrometry. The maximum cross section for 97Ru formation in the first reaction was found to be 440 mb (±15%) at 32 MeV. Results are compared With calculations based on the hybrid model of nuclear reactions (Overlaid Alice and Alice 85/300). For the proton energy range 99 – 20 MeV the cumulative 97Ru yield of 10.5 mCi/μA·h was estimated.