Assessment of the production of medical isotopes using the Monte Carlo code FLUKA: Simulations against experimental measurements

The Monte Carlo code FLUKA is used to simulate the production of a number of positron emitting radionuclides, 18F, 13N, 94Tc, 44Sc, 68Ga, 86Y, 89Zr, 52Mn, 61Cu and 55Co, on a small medical cyclotron with a proton beam energy of 13 MeV. Experimental data collected at the TR13 cyclotron at TRIUMF agree within a factor of 0.6 ± 0.4 with the directly simulated data, except for the production of 55Co, where the simulation underestimates the experiment by a factor of 3.4 ± 0.4. The experimental data also agree within a factor of 0.8 ± 0.6 with the convolution of simulated proton fluence and cross sections from literature. Overall, this confirms the applicability of FLUKA to simulate radionuclide production at 13 MeV proton beam energy.