Production of 177Lu at the IFMIF-DONES Facility

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential of the IFMIF-DONES facility to produce the radioisotope 177Lu using deuterons, highlighting its feasibility and the need for improved nuclear data at higher energies.

Contribution

It demonstrates the viability of using IFMIF-DONES for 177Lu production and emphasizes the importance of acquiring new nuclear data for accurate modeling.

Findings

IFMIF-DONES can produce 177Lu effectively.

High deuteron energies require better nuclear data.

Facility could support small-medium sized territories.

Abstract

The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility - Demo Oriented NEutron Source (IFMIF-DONES) is a single-sited novel Research Infrastructure for testing, validation and qualification of the materials to be used in a fusion reactor. Recently, IFMIF-DONES has been declared of interest by ESFRI (European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures) and its European host city would be Granada (Spain). In spite the first and most important application of IFMIF-DONES related to fusion technology, the unprecedented neutron flux available could be exploited without modifying the routine operation of IFMIF-DONES. Thus, it is already planned an experimental hall for a complementary program with neutrons. Also, a complementary program on the use of the deuteron beam could help IFMIF-DONES to be more sustainable. In the present work, we study radioisotope production with deuterons of 177Lu. The results show the viability of IFMIF-DONES for such production in terms of the needs of a territory of small-medium size. Also the study suggests that new nuclear data at higher deuteron energies are mandatory for an accurate study in this field.