BINP SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
Budker INP & NSU, Novosibirsk, Russia
NSU, Novosibirsk, Russia
A promising method of treatment of many malignant tumors is the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT)*. It provides a selective destruction of tumor cells by prior accumulation of a stable boron-10 isotope inside them and subsequent irradiation with epithermal neutrons. It is expected that accelerator based neutron sources will be created for the clinical practice. One such source could be an original source of epithermal neutrons**, created in BINP. To obtain proton beam a new type of particle accelerator is used - tandem accelerator with vacuum insulation. Generation of neutrons is carried out as a result of the threshold reaction 7Li(p, n)7Be. During 2015-2016 in the construction of tandem accelerator with vacuum insulation several changes were made. This allowed us to suppress the unwanted flow of charged particles in the accelerator, to improve its high-voltage stability, and to increase the proton beam current from 1.6 to 5 mA. Such current value is sufficient for BNCT. The report describes in detail the modernization of the accelerator, presents and discusses the results of experiments on obtaining the proton beam and the formation of neutron flux using lithium target, and declares our prospective plans. The obtained neutron beam meets the requirements of BNCT: the irradiation of cell cultures provides the destruction of cells with boron and preservation of cells without boron. Irradiation of immunodeficient mice with grafted glioblastoma results in their recovery.
*Neutron Capture Therapy. Principles and Applications. Eds: W. Sauerwein, A. Wittig, R. Moss, Y. Nakagawa. Springer, 2012.
**S. Taskaev. Accelerator based epithermal neutron source. Physics of Particles and Nuclei 46 (2015) 956-990.
Budker INP & NSU, Novosibirsk, Russia
BINP SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia
There is the accelerator-tandem at the Nuclear physics institute in Novosibirsk which is suitable for malignancies treatment such as glioblastoma and melanoma using BNCT methods. There are different gamma spectrometry diagnostics which apply under this project. One of these is used to determine the parameters of the neutron beam. The method is to irradiate a set of activation foils with neutrons. Then measure the gamma-spectrum of foils using gamma detector. Based on these data it can be calculated the activity of foil, as well as the amount and the energy of neutrons. For data processing of these diagnostics there was developed a software which is used for convenient display of gamma-spectrometer data and the activity of the foil. Software allows setting a canal calibration and the sensitivity calibration which is needed to calculate the foil activity.