Simulations of nuclear-collision processes for the production of innovative medical radioisotopes for theragnostic: the case of 152Tb at the SPES cyclotron

This thesis explores the applications of nuclear physics in medicine, with a focus on "theragnostics”, which involves radioactive elements suitable for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Among these, the study highlights the properties and production methods of Terbium radionuclides, specifically 152Tb. The TALYS software is employed to analyze the cross sections of the relevant nuclear reactions and to estimate the activity levels of the resulting radionuclides. The quantities of 152Tb produced by irradiating Gadolinium or Dysprosium targets turn out to be very different, with the former leading to a larger production, and the latter being much less promising. In particular, with an enriched 155Gd target one reaches a yield up to 1.0 GBq/uah. However, the process generates contaminants that hinder the use of such production for clinical applications. Even if the method proposed does not provide a sufficient purity for clinical applications it can be used for research studies concerning the characterization of 152Tb as PET tracer.