Production of energetic 232U, 236,238Pu, 242Cm, 248Bk, 250,252Cf and 252Es radioisotopes for use as nuclear battery in thin targets via particle accelerators

Abstract

Energetic 232U, 236,238Pu, 242Cm, 248Bk, 250,252Cf and 252Es nuclei used in nuclear batteries were produced by using particle accelerators for proton, deuteron, triton, helium-3 and alpha-induced reaction processes on thin targets. The energy range used was Eparticle = 100 → 1 MeV, including specific conditions such as irradiation time of 24 h with constant beam current of 1 μA. The impressive results were obtained in terms of charged-induced reaction processes, based on simulated activity and yield of product curves. In addition, the significance of these results was discussed for each reaction process so as to determine the appropriate reaction process in detail and add nuclear data to the literature. Also, obtaining these radioisotopes has loud economic cost and restrictions of target materials. Therefore, target materials in production processes were carried out in thin targets to provide convenience to experimenters.