A digital twin for ⁶⁴Cu production with cyclotron and solid target system

Area of Science:

• Nuclear Engineering
• Medical Physics
• Computational Modeling

Background:

• Designing radioisotope production systems requires balancing ideal designs with manufacturing realities, particularly for cyclotron solid targets.
• Uncertainties in particle beams, material composition, and target geometry significantly impact production outcomes.
• Manufacturing processes like electroplating can introduce non-uniformities, creating discrepancies between designed and actual target performance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a digital twin approach for radioisotope production systems, specifically for the 64Ni(p,n)64Cu reaction.
• To connect 'ideal' design parameters with 'real' manufactured target geometries using 3D scanning.
• To improve the reliability and cost-effectiveness of designing cyclotron solid targets.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 'digital twin' philosophy, incorporating 3D scanned data of actual manufactured targets.
• Developed Unstructured-Mesh MCNP6 models based on both ideal designs and real target geometries.
• Performed characterization by comparing simulations with experimental data, testing various physics models and cross-section libraries.

Main Results:

• Estimated proton spectra, 3D flux maps (proton, neutron, photon), and average energies within the target.
• Quantified power dissipation, shut-down dose rates, and 64Cu yield, comparing with experimental data.
• Assessed the impact of beam axial shifting and validated the digital twin against real-world measurements.

Conclusions:

• A digital twin effectively characterizes the 64Ni(p,n)64Cu production device by integrating real target geometry.
• This approach bridges the gap between ideal design and manufactured reality, enhancing simulation accuracy.
• The validated digital twin model provides a foundation for future integrated analyses, including thermal, structural, and fluid-dynamic studies.