Production of no-carrier-added 139Pr via precursor decay in the proton bombardment of natPr

Excitation functions and production rates are presented for various Pr and Nd radionuclides formed in the bombardment of Pr with protons, from their respective thresholds up to 100 MeV. The indirect production route 141Pr(p, 3n)139mNd → 139Pr is investigated as an alternative to the direct production route 140Ce(p, 2n)139Pr for producing no-carrier-added 139Pr of high radionuclidic purity. The simultaneous production of 139Pr and 140Nd using Pr as target is investigated. The advantages and disadvantages of both production routes are discussed. Experimental thick-target production rates are presented for selected Pr radionuclides formed in the bombardment of natCe with protons at incident energies of 20, 26 and 32 MeV. All the experimental excitation functions obtained in this work are compared with theoretical predictions by means of the geometry-dependent hybrid (GDH) model as implemented in the code ALICE-IPPE. The results of this work are also compared with previous literature experimental data, if available.