Study of deuteron-induced nuclear reactions on natural tungsten for the production of theranostic 186Re via AVF cyclotron up to 38 MeV

Abstract Activation cross-sections for the nat W( d , x ) 181,182 m,182 g,183,184m,184g,184g(cum),186g Re, 187 W and 182g+m+n Ta nuclear reactions were measured from the respective thresholds up to 38 MeV by using a stacked-foil activation technique combined with HPGe γ-ray spectrometry. The results are compared with the available literature data and theoretical data extracted from the TENDL-2015 library, and found only a partial agreement among them. Independent cross-sections for the nat W( d , x ) 182g+m+n Ta reactions are reported here for the first time. Physical thick target yields for the investigated reaction products were deduced from the measured cross-sections and compared with the directly measured yields found in the literature. The deduced yield curves indicate that a typical irradiation of an enriched 186 W target with 100 µA current from a low energy ( 186g Re in no carrier added form.