23 Nucleus N o 65, 2019 The modeling of the reaction cross sections in the production of teranositic radionuclides Andrea Fontana 1 , Gaia Pupillo 2 , Liliana Mou 2 , Carlos Rossi Alvarez 2 , Juan Esposito 2 , Luciano Canton 3 * 1 Sezione di Pavia (PV). Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy. 2 Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro (LNL). Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy. 3 Sezione di Padova (PD). Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Italy. luciano.canton@pd.infn.it Abstract We utilize various nuclear reaction codes with the aim to guide, interpret, and support the experiments in the proton-induced production measurements of radionuclides for the development of innovative radio-pharmaceuticals. The understanding of reaction cross sections at low-intermediate energies is crucial in this context and requires the knowledge of nuclear models available in different codes, such as EMPIRE, TALYS, and FLUKA. These nuclear reaction codes serve as tool to interpret the measurement of production cross-sections and to complete the measurements with estimates of production of con- taminants and/or stable isotopes that are diffcult to measure. We illustrate different model calculations to simulate isotope production useful in experiments devoted to the measurement of proton-induced production of the two theranostic radio-isotopes 67 Cu and 47 Sc. Key words: nuclear reactions; isotope production; copper 67; scandium 47; cross sections; simulation. La modelación de las secciones eficaces de reacción en la producción de radionúclidos teranosíticos Resumen Utilizamos varios códigos de reacción nuclear con el objetivo de guiar, interpretar y respaldar los experimentos en las mediciones de producción de radionúclidos inducidas por protones para el de- sarrollo de productos radio-farmacéuticos innovadores. La comprensión de las secciones efcaces de reacción en energías intermedias bajas es crucial en este contexto y requiere el conocimiento de modelos nucleares disponibles en diferentes códigos, como EMPIRE, TALYS y FLUKA. Estos códigos de reacción nuclear sirven como herramienta para interpretar la medición de secciones efcaces de producción y para completar las mediciones con estimaciones de producción de contaminantes y / o isótopos estables que son difíciles de medir. Ilustramos diferentes cálculos de modelos para simular la producción de isótopos útiles en experimentos dedicados a la medición de la producción inducida por protones de los dos isótopos teranósticos 67 Cu y 47 Sc. Palabras clave: reacciones nucleares; producción de isotopos; cobre 67; escandio 47; secciones eficaces; simulación. Introduction The applications of radioisotopes are found in al- most all country of the world, signifcantly contributing in the increase of health care, safety, and industrial deve- lopments. The amount of medical procedures involving the use of radioisotopes is constantly increasing world- wide, and these procedures require a growing number of different isotopes. In industry, the uses of isotopes are very diverse, and their impact in the various industrial sectors may differ greatly from sector to sector [1]. Within radionuclide therapy, the implementation of the concept of “theranostics”, which refers to an inte- grated approach to diagnosis and therapy using sui- table combinations of molecular targeting vectors and radionuclides, has started recently. A recent coordinated research activity promoted by IAEA [2] assessed that, amongst the most innovative and emerging radioisoto- pes for theranostic application, a special role is played by beta-emitters Copper-67, Scandium-47 (together with Rhenium-186, which is not discussed here). The production of these two radionuclides is the subject of the present study. The isotope 67 Cu is a very promising candidate for theranostics due to the specifc role of copper in several biochemical processes and it has been long conside- red an excellent nuclide for radioimmunotherapy [3]. Its relatively long half-life (T1/2 =61.83 h) permits to follow the slow biodistribution of antibodies, the most used