THE PHITS SIMULATION STUDY FOR AN ALTERNATIVE PRODUCTION OF ³²P RADIOISOTOPE BY SECONDARY NEUTRON BOMBARDMENT OF ³²S TARGET
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.11113/jurnalteknologi.v87.22324Keywords:
32P radioisotope, PHITS simulation, proton beam, radioactivity yield, secondary neutronAbstract
Different methods of phosphorous-32 (32P) radioisotope production have been of great interest over the past few years due to the wide range of 32P applications in agriculture, health, and the environment. In this present study, using the PHITS simulation, 32P radioisotope was theoretically produced by bombarding a natural sulfur target with secondary neutrons generated from 13, 18, and 30 MeV proton irradiation of Ti targets with thicknesses of 0.7, 1.2, and 3.0 mm, respectively. The calculated results showed that secondary neutron flux ranging from 1.78x1012 to 9.46x1012 n/cm2s was generated from titanium-bombarded protons, which resulted in the 32P radioactivity yields of 0.200, 0.840, and 3.167 MBq/μAh for proton energies of 13, 18, and 30 MeV, respectively. For 13 MeV protons, no radioactive impurity was generated during the bombardment, while radioactive impurities such as 31Si, 30P, 28Al, and 31S were produced from 30 MeV proton bombardment. The 32P radioactivity yield s and the radioactive impurity yields increase further when the 32S target is increased to 10 grams.
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