Copper-67 (T1/2 = 61.83 h, Eβ-mean=141 keV, Iβ-total=100%; Eγ = 184.577 keV, Iγ = 48.7%) is a promising radionuclide for theranostic applications especially in radio immunotherapy. However, one of the main drawbacks for its application is related to its limited availability. Various nuclear reaction routes investigated in the last years can result in 67Cu production, although the use of proton beams is the method of choice taken into account in this work. The goal of this work is a revision of the cross-sections aimed at 67Cu yield, which were evaluated for the 68Zn(p,2p)67Cu reaction route up to 80 MeV proton energy. A well-defined statistical procedure, i.e., the Simultaneous Evaluation on KALMAN (SOK), combined with the least-squares concept, was used to obtain the evaluated data together with the covariance matrix. The obtained evaluated data were also compared to predictions provided by the nuclear reaction model codes TALYS and EMPIRE, and a partial agreement among them has been found. These data may be useful for both existing and potential applications in nuclear medicine, to achieve an improvement and validation of the various nuclear reaction models, and may also find applications in other fields (e.g., activation analysis and thin layer activation).
The environment of the Straits of Malacca receives pollution as a result of various industrial and anthropogenic sources, making systematic studies crucial in determining the prevailing water quality. Present study concerns concentrations of natural radionuclides and heavy metals in marine fish (Rastrelliger kanagurta) collected from the Straits of Malacca, since aquatic stock form an important source of the daily diet of the surrounding populace. Assessment was made of the concentrations of key indicator radionuclides (226Ra, 232Th, 40K) and heavy metals (As, Mn, Fe, Cr, Ni, Zn, Cu, Co, Sr, Al, Hg and Pb) together with various radiation indices linked to the consumption of seafish. The annual effective dose for all detected radionuclides for all study locations has been found to be within UNSCEAR acceptable limits as has the associated life-time cancer risk. The overall contamination of the sampled fish from heavy metals was also found to be within limits of tolerance.