The Application of Tantalum Target Substrate for Production Process of ⁶⁴Cu

In order to obtain the appropriate target backing material for ⁶⁴Cu production which will meet radiolabeling requirements, and to reduce the content of stable copper impurity generated from copper target substrate in the final ⁶⁴Cu product, tantalum is selected as the target backing material. By carrying out a series of experiments including thermal fluid solid coupling analysis, nickel plating experiment, dissolution experiment, irradiation experiment, falling test, thermal shock test on the tantalum target substrate, tantalum target substrate is finally utilized for ⁶⁴Cu production. The results showed that tantalum target substrate could be applied to ⁶⁴Cu production, which has simplified the whole production process of ⁶⁴Cu, the yield can reach 38.1 GBq (EOB) or 190.5 MBq·μA^-1·h^-1 (EOB). The tests of ⁶⁴CuCuCl₂ solution showed that the radionuclide purity was greater than 99.9%, radiochemical purity was greater than 95% and the metal impurity content was less than 1.5 μg·GBq^-1. The research verifies that the tantalum target substrate can be used in ⁶⁴Cu production, which avoids the process of electroplating gold and produces ⁶⁴Cu more efficiently.