Photonuclear production of yttrium-88 - A high energy gamma emitter for hydrocarbon extraction applications

The use of fracing has risen over the past decade and revolutionized energy production in the US. However, there is still an impetus for further optimization of the extraction of oil and natural gas from vast shale reservoirs. In this work, we discuss photonuclear production of yttrium-88 as a promising radiotracer for fracing operations. Single neutron knock-out from natural monoisotopic yttrium-89 is an inexpensive process resulting in high activity of 88Y with minimal impurities. MCNPX simulations were performed to estimate the 88Y yield. Irradiations of natural yttrium using a 32 MeV electron linac equipped with a tungsten bremsstrahlung converter were done to benchmark the simulations. Activities of 88Y, 87gY, and 87mY were measured and found to be in good agreement with the predictions.