Simulation of Excitation Functions for Sb-123 & Sb-124 Production from (n, na) & (n, a) Reactions Using Exifon Code
Zubaida Gali Habib and Idris Ahmad
Keywords: EXIFON, Radionuclide, PET, SPECT, Antimony
Abstract
The widespread integration of radionuclides in diagnosing and treating diseases is now a fundamental aspect of global healthcare systems, with techniques like Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography SPECT playing vital roles in cancer detection and radiotherapy treatments such as I-131 for thyroid cancer which is gaining traction. However, shortages of radionuclides can disrupt medical facilities, leading to delayed diagnoses, increased costs, and patient distress. Therefore, the exploration of non-reactor methods for radionuclide production is essential. This research specifically delves into calculating excitation functions for generating Antimony-123 and Antimony-124 via (n, an) and (n,a) reactions on stable Iodine-127 within the 1-30 MeV energy range using the EXIFON Code. These isotopes are crucial for biological and biomedical labelling, with a new dataset establishing threshold energies of 9 MeV and 20 MeV for Sb-124 and Sb-123, respectively, and corresponding crosssection value of 0.1mb, showcasing favorable agreement with data from Evaluated nuclear data file (ENDF) and experimental data (EXFOR). This is to facilitate Sb-123 and Sb-124 production using cyclotron.