  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.
