Accelerator neutron sources meeting epithermal beam requirements · revision history

Revision 2

Accepted · core change · record

Changes against revision 1:

Title
Accelerator neutron sources meeting epithermal beam requirements
Plain
Hospitals need compact accelerators that produce intense beams of medium-speed neutrons without too many fast neutrons or gamma rays. The targets that make the neutrons wear out quickly.
Precise · changed · core
Revision 1: Design an accelerator-driven source giving epithermal neutron flux above $10^9\,\mathrm{per}\,\mathrm{cm}^2\,\mathrm{per}\,\mathrm{s}$ at the beam port with fast-neutron and photon dose per epithermal neutron below the IAEA-recommended limits (of order 2 x 10^-11 rad cm^2 each), using $\mathrm{Li}-7(p,n)$, $\mathrm{Be}-9(p,n)$ or $(d,n)$ reactions, with target lifetime of at least hundreds of treatment hours under proton-induced blistering and heat loads of order $10^{11}\,\mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{s}$. An answer is a source with measured spectrum, flux and target lifetime meeting all criteria.
Revision 2: Design an accelerator-driven source giving epithermal neutron flux above $10^9\,\mathrm{per}\,\mathrm{cm}^2\,\mathrm{per}\,\mathrm{s}$ at the beam port with fast-neutron and photon dose per epithermal neutron below the IAEA-recommended limits (of order $2 \times 10^{-11}$ $\mathrm{rad}\ \mathrm{cm}^{2}$ each), using $\mathrm{Li}-7(p,n)$, $\mathrm{Be}-9(p,n)$ or $(d,n)$ reactions, with target lifetime of at least hundreds of treatment hours under proton-induced blistering and heat loads of order $10^{11}\,\mathrm{erg}/\mathrm{s}$. An answer is a source with measured spectrum, flux and target lifetime meeting all criteria.
Settled by
Measured beam-port spectra and dose components plus target endurance tests on an operating clinical source.
Kind
well-posed
Answer type
value
References
(empty)
Literature status
partially-resolved
Status note
An accelerator-based neutron capture system was approved in Japan in 2020 for head and neck cancer, while target lifetime and beam quality at lithium targets remain under development.
Posed since
(empty)

Decisions