Simultaneous production of high specific activity 64Cu and 61CO with 11.4 MeV protons on enriched 64Ni nuclei

The Cu-64 and Co-61 radionuclides were produced simultaneously by irradiation of enriched Ni-64 on a low energy proton-only cyclotron. Nickel targets were prepared by electrodeposition of enriched Ni-64 (> 95%) on An backing at thicknesses of 25-225 mg/cm(2) with efficiencies > 99%. Irradiations up to 30 mu A for 8h were performed with 11.4MeV protons using a water-cooled target mounting. Radiochemical separation of Cu-64 and Co-61 from Ni-64 was performed by chromatography of the chlorocomplexes in a single step using an anion exchange resin column with a yield > 95%. Using this method, the Ni target material was recovered and re-plated for subsequent production runs with an overall efficiency >96%. The excitation function for the Ni-64(p,n)Cu-64 reaction was measured and compared with published values. Experimental thick target saturation yields of 159 mCi/mu A for Cu-64 and 715 mu Ci/mu A for Co-61 were achieved. Typical specific activities Of (CU)-C-64 were found to be 18.8 +/- 3.3 Ci/mu mol. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.