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Advanced Accelerator Design to Enhance Boron-Neutron-Capture Therapy
DOE Grant No. DE-FG02-00ER86111
Amount: $500,000
|
Small Business Science Research Laboratory, Inc. 15 Ward Street Somerville, MA 02143-4228 Dr. Rodney Petr, Principal Investigator Mr. Jonah Jacob, Business Official 617-547-1122 |
Research Institution Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory University of California One Cyclotron Road Berkeley, CA 94720 |
Recent clinical
trials have cast doubt on the efficacy of Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT)
for brain tumor treatment when low energy, reactor-generated neutron beams are
used. It has been predicted that
higher energy, accelerator-produced neutron beams would have an epithermal
neutron spectrum that would be much more effective.
Therefore, this project will design and fabricate an innovative
accelerator for neutron generation based on an RF shunt-fed voltage multiplier.
Phase I showed that a shunt-fed, inductively coupled accelerator is
capable of clinical BNCT by demonstrating: (1)
the required multi-stage voltage multiplication at high current; (2) the
low voltage ripple characteristics required to support 2.5 MeV operation at high
current; and (3) that the
all-solid-state power supply can be successfully matched to the accelerating
column, delivering the required voltage and current characteristics.
Phase II will verify that a 2.5 MV, 50 mA electrostatic accelerator can
be built for BNCT. The resulting
energy spectrum of the produced neutrons will be optimized for BNCT trials.
Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Successful completion of this project will result in a high-energy neutron source tailored for maximum efficacy of BNCT.