Investigation of selenium compounds as targets for 76,77Br production using protons of energies up to 34 MeV

Abstract

Abstract Selenium compounds of Zn, Sn and Cu were prepared using a conventional sintering method and the phase composition of each compound was investigated using X-ray diffraction. The compounds prepared were tested under variable irradiation and separation conditions for 76,77Br production. The activity of 77Br was measured as a function of proton beam current within the range 2–15 μA and the thermal stability of the irradiated compound was investigated. The results showed that the compounds ZnSe and Cu2Se are thermally more stable in comparison to the SnSe. The effects of several factors, such as temperature, gas flow rate and separation time, were studied to obtain the maximum separation yield of radiobromine by the dry distillation method. The data showed that the compound Cu2Se is the most suitable target for proton irradiation to produce 76,77Br at energies up to 20 MeV. A simplified method was used to prepare also CuSe, which was tested in irradiations with intermediate energy protons of beam currents up to 10 μA. The data of a typical production run using 17 MeV protons and the Cu2Se target are reported.