scholarly journals A New Low-Energy Proton Irradiation Facility to Unveil the Mechanistic Basis of the Proton-Boron Capture Therapy Approach

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 11986
Author(s):  
Valerio Ricciardi ◽  
Pavel Bláha ◽  
Raffaele Buompane ◽  
Giuseppina Crescente ◽  
Giacomo Cuttone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Human Cancer ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Reaction Cross ◽  
Tandem Accelerator ◽  
Proton Beams ◽  
Human Cancer Cells ◽  
Energy Proton ◽  
Biological Effectiveness ◽  
Tissue Sparing

Protontherapy (PT) is a fast-growing cancer therapy modality thanks to much-improved normal tissue sparing granted by the charged particles’ inverted dose-depth profile. Protons, however, exhibit a low biological effectiveness at clinically relevant energies. To enhance PT efficacy and counteract cancer radioresistance, Proton–Boron Capture Therapy (PBCT) was recently proposed. PBCT exploits the highly DNA-damaging α-particles generated by the p + 11B→3α (pB) nuclear reaction, whose cross-section peaks for proton energies of 675 keV. Although a significant enhancement of proton biological effectiveness by PBCT has been demonstrated for high-energy proton beams, validation of the PBCT rationale using monochromatic proton beams having energy close to the reaction cross-section maximum is still lacking. To this end, we implemented a novel setup for radiobiology experiments at a 3-MV tandem accelerator; using a scattering chamber equipped with an Au foil scatterer for beam diffusion on the biological sample, uniformity in energy and fluence with uncertainties of 2% and 5%, respectively, was achieved. Human cancer cells were irradiated at this beamline for the first time with 685-keV protons. The measured enhancement in cancer cell killing due to the 11B carrier BSH was the highest among those thus far observed, thereby corroborating the mechanistic bases of PBCT.

scholarly journals High-energy neutron facility at the Athens Tandem Accelerator NCSR “Demokritos”

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 123 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Vlastou ◽  
M. Anastasiou ◽  
A. Kalamara ◽  
M. Diakaki ◽  
M. Kokkoris ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Reaction Cross Section ◽  
Neutron Fluence ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Reaction Cross ◽  
Activation Technique ◽  
Tandem Accelerator ◽  
Foil Activation ◽  
Energy Neutron ◽  
Neutron Facility

In the 5.5 MV tandem T11/25 Accelerator Laboratory of NCSR “Demokritos” monoenergetic neutron beams have been produced in the energy range ∼16–19 MeV using a new Ti-tritiated target of 373 GBq activity, by means of the 3H(d,n)4He reaction. The corresponding beam energies obtained from the accel- erator, were 0.8–3.7 deuterons. The maximum flux has been determined to be of the order of 106 n/s·cm2, implementing reference reactions. An investigation of the energy dependence of the neutron fluence has been carried out with the multiple foil activation technique. The beam has been used for the measurement of (n,2n) reaction cross section on several isotopes at 16.7 and 17 MeV.

NEUTRON SPECTRUM ANALYSES BY FOIL ACTIVATION METHOD FOR HIGH-ENERGY PROTON BEAMS

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
CHEOL HO PYEON ◽  
HIROSHI SHIGA ◽  
KAZUAKI ABE ◽  
HIROSHI YASHIMA ◽  
TSUYOSHI MISAWA ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Neutron Spectrum ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Activation Method ◽  
High Energy Proton ◽  
Proton Beams ◽  
Energy Proton ◽  
Foil Activation

Intense High-Energy Proton Beams from Petawatt-Laser Irradiation of Solids

2000 ◽  
Vol 85 (14) ◽  
pp. 2945-2948 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Snavely ◽  
M. H. Key ◽  
S. P. Hatchett ◽  
T. E. Cowan ◽  
M. Roth ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Laser Irradiation ◽  
High Energy ◽  
High Energy Proton ◽  
Proton Beams ◽  
Energy Proton

scholarly journals Measurement of the 241Am(n,2n)240Am cross section at 17.5 MeV

2019 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 160
Author(s):  
A. Kalamara ◽  
R. Vlastou ◽  
M. Diakaki ◽  
M. Kokkoris ◽  
M. Anastasiou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Neutron Beam ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Reaction Cross ◽  
Activation Technique ◽  
Tandem Accelerator ◽  
Hpge Detectors ◽  
Reaction Cross Sections ◽  
Reference Reaction ◽  
High Radioactivity

The 241Am(n,2n)240Am reaction cross section has been measured at neutron beam energy 17.5 MeV, relative to the 27Al(n,α)24Na, 197Au(n,2n)196Au and 93Nb(n,2n)92mNb reference reaction cross sections, using the activation technique. The irradiation was carried out at the Van der Graaff 5.5 MV Tandem accelerator laboratory of NCSR “Demokritos” with monoenergetic neutron beam provided by means of the 3H(d,n)4He reaction, implementing a new Ti-tritiated target. The high purity Am target has been constructed at IRMM, Geel, Belgium and consisted of 40 mg 241Am in the form of AmO2 pressed into pellet with Al2O3 and encapsulated into Al container. Due to this high radioactivity (5 GBq), the Am target was enclosed in a Pb container for safety reasons. After the end of the irradiation, the activity induced by the neutron beam at the target and reference foils, was measured off-line by two 100%, a 50% and a 16% relative efficiency, HPGe detectors.

scholarly journals Study of the 232Th(n,f) Cross section at NCSR ‘Demokritos’ using Micromegas Detectors

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Sotirios Chasapoglou ◽  
A. Tsantiri ◽  
A. Kalamara ◽  
M. Kokkoris ◽  
V. Michalopoulou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Nuclear Reactions ◽  
Detection Efficiency ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Tandem Accelerator ◽  
Line Detector ◽  
Accelerator Driven Systems ◽  
The Masses

The accurate knowledge of neutron-induced fission cross sections in actinides, is of great importance when it comes to the design of fast nuclear reactors, as well as accelerator driven systems. Specifically for the 232Th(n,f) case, the existing experimental datasets are quite discrepant in both the low and high energy MeV regions, thus leading to poor evaluations, a fact that in turn implies the need for more accurate measurements.In the present work, the total cross section of the 232Th(n,f) reaction has been measured relative to the 235U(n,f) and 238U(n,f) ones, at incident energies of 7.2, 8.4, 9.9 MeV and 14.8, 16.5, 17.8 MeV utilizing the 2H(d,n) and 3H(d,n) reactions respectively, which generally yield quasi-monoenergetic neutron beams. The experiments were performed at the 5.5 MV Tandem accelerator laboratory of N.C.S.R. “Demokritos”, using a Micromegas detector assembly and an ultra thin ThO2 target, especially prepared for fission measurements at n_ToF, CERN during its first phase of operations, using the painting technique. The masses of all actinide samples were determined via α-spectroscopy. The produced fission yields along with the results obtained from activation foils were studied in parallel, using both the NeusDesc [1] and MCNP5 [2] codes, taking into consideration competing nuclear reactions (e.g. deuteron break up), along with neutron elastic and inelastic scattering with the beam line, detector housing and experimental hall materials. Since the 232Th(n,f) reaction has a relatively low energy threshold and can thus be affected by parasitic neutrons originating from a variety of sources, the thorough characterization of the neutron flux impinging on the targets is a prerequisite for accurate cross-section measurements, especially in the absence of time-of-flight capabilities. Additional Monte-Carlo simulations were also performed coupling both GEF [3] and FLUKA [4] codes for the determination of the detection efficiency.

scholarly journals Attempted study of the 237Np(n,2n)236Np reaction cross section at 9.5 MeV

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 ◽  
pp. 101
Author(s):  
M. Diakaki ◽  
R. Vlastou ◽  
M. Kokkoris ◽  
C. T. Papadopoulos ◽  
A. Tsinganis ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Gamma Ray ◽  
Gamma Spectroscopy ◽  
Reaction Cross ◽  
Activation Technique ◽  
Incident Neutron ◽  
Incident Neutron Energy ◽  
Tandem Accelerator ◽  
Section Measurement ◽  
High Gamma

The cross section measurement of the 237Np(n,2n)236Np reaction has been attempted at an incident neutron energy of 9.5 MeV by means of the activation technique. The neutron beam was produced via the 2H(d,n)3Ηe reaction at the VdG Tandem accelerator of NCSR “Demokritos”. It is the second time that this measurement has been tried with a gamma spectroscopy method and the difficulties faced due to the high gamma ray background produced by the sample itself and the fission fragments produced by the irradiation, in combination with the very low intensity of the gamma ray of interest are being reported.

Measurements of Displacement Cross Section of Tungsten under 389-MeV Proton Irradiation and Thermal Damage Recovery

2021 ◽  
Vol 1024 ◽  
pp. 95-101
Author(s):  
Yosuke Iwamoto ◽  
Makoto Yoshida ◽  
Hiroki Matsuda ◽  
Shin Ichiro Meigo ◽  
Daiki Satoh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Thermal Conduction ◽  
Thermal Damage ◽  
Proton Irradiation ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Wire Sample ◽  
Energy Proton ◽  
Measured Displacement ◽  
Mev Protons

For validating the number of displacements per atom (dpa) for tungsten under high-energy proton irradiation, we measured displacement cross sections related to defect-induced electrical resistivity changes in a tungsten wire sample under irradiation with 389-MeV protons under 10 K. The Gifford–McMahon cryocooler was used to cool the sample using a conductive coolant via thermal conduction plates of oxygen-free high-conductivity copper and electrical insulation sheets of aluminum nitride ceramic. In this experiment, the displacement cross section was 1612 ± 371 b for tungsten at 389 MeV. A comparison of the experimental displacement cross sections of tungsten with the calculated results obtained using Norgett–Robinson–Torrens (NRT) dpa and athermal recombination-corrected (arc) dpa cross sections indicates that arc-dpa was in better agreement with the experimental data than NRT-dpa; this is similar to the displacement cross sections of copper. From the measurements of damage recovery of the accumulated defects in tungsten through isochronal annealing, which is related to the defect concentration of the sample, approximately 20% of the damage was recovered at 60 K. This trend was similar to those observed in other experimental results for reactor neutrons.

BIOPHYSICAL SIMULATION TOOL PARTRAC: MODELLING PROTON BEAMS AT THERAPY-RELEVANT ENERGIES

2019 ◽  
Vol 186 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 172-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Werner Friedland ◽  
Pavel Kundrát ◽  
Janine Becker ◽  
Markus Eidemüller
Keyword(s):  
Dna Damage ◽  
Penetration Depth ◽  
Radiation Effects ◽  
Bragg Peak ◽  
High Energy ◽  
Simulation Tool ◽  
Radiation Physics ◽  
Proton Beams ◽  
Biological Effectiveness ◽  
Penetration Depths

ABSTRACT The biophysical simulation tool PARTRAC has been primarily developed to model radiation physics, chemistry and biology on nanometre to micrometre scales. However, the tool can be applied in simulating radiation effects in an event-by-event manner over macroscopic volumes as well. Benchmark simulations are reported showing that PARTRAC does reproduce the macroscopic Bragg peaks of proton beams, although the penetration depths are underestimated by a few per cent for high-energy beams. PARTRAC also quantifies the increase in DNA damage and its complexity along the beam penetration depth. Enhanced biological effectiveness is predicted in particular within distal Bragg peak parts of therapeutic proton beams.

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