In the frame of a systematic study of charged particle production routes of medically relevant radionuclei, the excitation function for indirect production of $^{178m}$Ta through $^{nat}$Hf($alpha$,xn)$^{178}$W-$^{178m}$Ta nuclear reaction was measured for the first time up to 40 MeV. In parallel, the side reactions $^{nat}$Hf($alpha$,x)$^{179,177,176,175}$W, $^{183,182,178g,177,176,175}$Ta, $^{179m,177m,175}$Hf were also assessed. Stacked foil irradiation technique and $gamma$-ray spectrometry were used. New experimental cross section data for the $^{nat}$Ta(d,xn)$^{178}$W reaction are also reported up to 40 MeV. The measured excitation functions are compared with the results of the ALICE-IPPE, and EMPIRE nuclear reaction model codes and with the TALYS 1.4 based data in the TENDL-2013 library. The thick target yields were deduced and compared with yields of other charged particle ((p,4n), (d,5n) and ($^3$He,x)) production routes for $^{178}$W.
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