InnovaTron · Design study of an innovative high-intensity industrial cyclotron for production of Tc-99m and other frontier medical radioisotopes
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-08-01 → 2022-07-31
- EU contribution
- €166,320
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Design study of an innovative high-intensity industrial cyclotron for production of Tc-99m and other frontier medical radioisotopes
Cyclotrons are widely used in modern medicine for cancer therapy and diagnosis. Current commercial cyclotrons (Energy = 15-70 MeV) achieve currents up to or just above 1 mA. Today, the requirement for high beam current is becoming more and more important. High proton current cyclotrons can be employed for production of new emerging radioisotopes with low production yield to be used for traditional PET/SPECT imaging and theragnosis. Another application is the production of Tc-99m, the most widely used radioisotope in nuclear medicine. Currently, it is distributed as Mo-99 => Tc-99m generators. Mo-99 is produced by neutron induced fission of highly enriched U-235 targets in a few ageing nuclear reactors worldwide. Direct production of Tc-99m by proton cyclotrons is the most promising route to prevent the global shortage of the radioisotope due to possible future shutdown of the few remaining reactors worldwide. However, a high-intensity cyclotron technology is required for a large-scale production of Tc-99m. Indeed, with the current technology, a very dense network of cyclotrons worldwide would be needed due to the small yield of the direct production method compared to the fission reactor route. The high-intensity self-extracting cyclotron is a promising tool for the above-mentioned purposes. The proof-of-principle of self-extraction was demonstrated by IBA in 2001 by extracting proton currents close to 2 mA from a prototype. In the self-extracting cyclotron, there is no dedicated extraction device as in the existing machines but instead a special shaping of the magnetic iron and the use of harmonic coils to create large turn-separation at extraction. The overall goal of InnovaTron was the improvement of the concept of self-extraction to achieve high extraction efficiency and beam current to be used for high-intensity industrial applications.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Tc99m is the most widely used isotope in nuclear medicine. Production is almost exclusively done with a few ageing research reactors worldwide. Recent shutdowns of some those reactors have resulted in a worldwide Tc99m shortage. Europe is affected, because it is the second largest consumer of Tc99m worldwide. In response to growing concerns about Tc99m availability and the increasing demand in medicine, alternative production routes are being explored in the community. Direct production by proton cyclotrons looks the most promising solution. Cyclotrons offer several advantages, one of them being the possibility for local production, as is done for other commonly used medical isotopes. Large-scale production of Tc99m requires high proton beam intensities. InnovaTron focuses on a cutting-edge research project in accelerator design. The key challenge is the design of an innovative compact high-intensity cyclotron, named ‘self-extracting cyclotron’. In this machine, the proton beams exit without using an extraction device. Such devices usually prevent the extraction of high beam currents as would be needed for Tc99m production. A prototype machine was built by the company IBA around the year 2000. Self-extraction was successfully proven by extracting a current close to 2 mA. However, rather poor beam quality was observed resulting in too high machine activation and a maximum extraction efficiency not larger than 80%. This was encouraging but not yet good enough for industrial applications. InnovaTron will improve the magnet design and the beam-optics of the self-extracting cyclotron based on new technological solutions. It will be realized using high-level computer-aided design and beam physics studies. Key goals are: i) high currents up to 10 mA or more, ii) extraction efficiency higher than 95%, iii) beam quality at least a factor three better than the prototype. This cyclotron will allow production of high quantities of Tc99m and other frontier medical isotopes.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- ION BEAM APPLICATIONS SA · Ottignies Louvain La NeuveCoordinatorBelgium
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union