Study of activation cross sections of proton induced reactions on barium: Production of 131Ba-->131Cs.

In the frame of a systematic study of charged particle production routes of the therapeutic radioisotope (131)Cs, excitation functions of the (nat)Ba(p,x)(135,132mg)La, (ind135m,cum133m,cum133mg,cum131mg)Ba and (136mg,134mg,132,cum129)Cs reactions were measured in the 30-70 MeV energy range using stacked foil irradiation technique, activation method and gamma spectroscopy. Comparisons with new results of the ALICE-IPPE and EMPIRE-II codes and with existing data obtained with TALYS code are shown. From the measured cross section data integral yields were calculated and compared with experimental integral yield data reported in the literature. Potential use of proton induced reactions on Ba for production of (131)Cs is discussed. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.