A critical survey of experimental cross section data, comparison with nuclear model calculations and estimation of production yields of 77Br and 77Kr in no-carrier-added form via various nuclear processes

Abstract

Experimentally investigated nuclear reactions for production of no-carrier-added 77Br and 77Kr were critically surveyed. The survey covered nine reactions for the formation of 77Br and six reactions for 77Kr. Both radionuclides are simultaneously produced in many of the studied nuclear processes. The experimental data were compared with the results of nuclear model calculations based on the computer code ALICE-IPPE and the third version of TALYS-based Evaluated Nuclear Data Library, TENDL-2010. Good agreement was found over extended energy regions for the p-, 3He- and α-particle induced reactions on several target materials. In case of d-induced reactions, however, considerable discrepancies were noted between the experimental and theoretical data. The concordant sets of experimental cross section data for each reaction were fitted by a polynomial function to obtain a trend curve. From the thus obtained trend curves the yields of both 77Br and 77Kr were calculated. A discussion of suitable production routes is given.