Cross sections from proton irradiation of thorium at 800 MeV

TL;DR

This study reports nuclear formation cross sections for 65 nuclides from 800-MeV proton irradiation of thorium, providing valuable data for code validation and radioisotope production for medical applications.

Contribution

It offers comprehensive experimental cross section data for thorium irradiation at 800 MeV, comparing results with MCNP6 predictions to evaluate their accuracy.

Findings

Most code predictions agree within a factor of two of measurements

Data serve as benchmarks for computational models

Supports development of medical radioisotope production methods

Abstract

Nuclear formation cross sections are reported for 65 nuclides produced from 800-MeV proton irradiation of thorium foils. These data are useful as benchmarks for computational predictions in the ongoing process of theoretical code development and also to the design of spallation-based radioisotope production currently being considered for multiple radiotherapeutic pharmaceutical agents. Measured data are compared with the predictions of three MCNP6 event generators and used to evaluate the potential for 800-MeV productions of radioisotopes of interest for medical radiotherapy. In only a few instances code predictions are discrepant from measured values by more than a factor of two, demonstrating satisfactory predictive power across a large mass range. Similarly, agreement between measurements presented here and those previously reported is good, lending credibility to predictions of target yields and radioimpurities for high-energy accelerator-produced radionuclides.