CALCULATION OF CROSS SECTION AND PRODUCTION YIELD OF RADIOPHARMACEUTICAL PRASEODYMIUM-139 THROUGH 140CE(P, 2N)139PR REACTION USING GEANT4 AND TALYS NUCLEAR CODES

Background & Aim: PET is a very useful and suitable imaging method in nuclear medicine. This method uses positrons with a special energy for imaging. The elements of the lanthanide are suitable for the decay of positrons with a specific energy for use in PET. Praseodymium-139 with a half-life of 4.5 hours is one of the useful elements in the group of lanthanides that can be used in PET. In this study, the 140Ce (p,2n)139Pr reaction to produce the useful radiopharmaceutical Praseodymium-139 was simulated by the TALYS code with four different models and also by the GEANT4 Monte Carlo code. The purpose of this simulation is to calculate the cross-sectional area of the reaction and the production efficiency of praseodymium-139 in the proton irradiated cerium-140 target. Materials & Methods: The values of cross-section and production yield of Praseodymium-139 have been obtained through 140Ce(p,2n)139Pr reaction using TALYS and GEANT4 codes and the proton projectile range changes in the cerium-140 target were simulated using SRIM and GEANT4 codes. Results: Proton range changes are shown using the SRIM and GEANT4 codes in the Cerium-140 target for different energies of the entrance protons. The range of protons in cerium-140 at 22 MeV energy was calculated to be 1610 and 1637.5 micrometers, respectively. Then the cross-sectional values simulated using TALYS and GEANT4 codes for different energies of the entrance protons were compared with the experimental data. At the energy of 5.22 MeV, the cross section of Praseodymium-139 has the maximum amount in the reaction 140Ce(p,2n)139Pr. The thickness of the production thickness was calculated from the target of cerium-140 for different proton energies. The cross-sectional values obtained in this energy using these two codes are 1150.7 and 1350.4 bar, respectively. Also, the amount of product yield in the energy of 22 MeV was calculated using these codes, 1832.1 and 1782.83 MBqµA-1h-1, respectively. Discussion and conclusion: Comparison of the simulation results for the product of praseodymium-139 radiopharmaceuticals through the 140Ce(p,2n)139Pr  reaction using the TALYS code and the GEANT4 and SRIM Monte Carlo methods show that they are in good agreement with the experimental data. It is also possible to simulate the desired reaction using these codes without spending a lot of time and money and laboratory materials and before the production of radiopharmaceuticals, and to predict the values of production efficiency and the appropriate range of energy for the production of radiopharmaceuticals.