Compact Neutron Source for Medical Isotope Production

用于医用同位素生产的紧凑型中子源

基本信息

批准号：
ST/I003339/1
负责人：
Rebecca Seviour
金额：
$ 5.46万
依托单位：
University of Huddersfield
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2012
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2012 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FI003339%2F1
关键词：
Compact Neutron Source Medical Isotope

项目摘要

If you have a heart attack, it's fairly likely that the doctor will inject you with a Technetium-99 tracer. As the tracer circulates through your bloodstream, the Technetium emits X-rays just like an X-ray machine. However, unlike an X-ray machine, the tracer shows up just those regions where there is blood flow, so that blockages can be seen clearly. Technetium is also used in a host of other medical procedures to distinguish other differences in soft tissues: for example, cancer tumours take up certain radiotracers more than normal tissue, so that they 'light up' compared to their surroundings. Technetium is supplied to hospitals by packaging Molybdenum-99 into a generator: Molybdenum-99 decays into Technetium in the generator over about a week, and the Technetium extracted and used for diagnostic procedures. But there's a problem. Right now, large quantities of Molybdenum-99 can only be made in a few specialised nuclear reactors, all of which are becoming too old to be run safely, and recent failures in the two principal reactors have created a crisis in supply, at a time when there is an ever-growing demand. To put it into context, 36 million nuclear medicine procedures were carried out last year, most of which need Technetium. Researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Lancaster are looking at a new method to produce Technetium using a particle accelerator. Using similar technology to that used in particle colliders like the LHC, they propose using a high-power radio-frequency quadrupole (RFQ) to accelerate ions into a target to generate neutrons. Like in the reactors they intend to replace, these neutrons can then be used to make Molybdenum-99. Although an RFQ cannot make as many neutrons as a reactor, it is much cheaper to build and operate, and so many could be built around the country to provide a domestic supply of Molybdenum-99, which the UK doesn't have at the moment despite using over a million doses of Technetium a year. Once the RFQ and target are optimised, researchers plan to build a prototype accelerator to demonstrate the commercial viability of the technique, and are talking to companies already about how to do this.

如果您有心脏病发作，医生很可能会为您注入Technetium-99示踪剂。当示踪剂通过您的血液循环时，Technetium像X射线机一样发射X射线。但是，与X射线机不同，示踪剂仅显示出血流的那些区域，因此可以清楚地看到阻塞。 Technetium还用于许多其他医疗程序中，以区分软组织的其他差异：例如，癌症肿瘤比正常组织更重要，因此与周围环境相比，它们“点亮”。 Technetium是通过将钼99包装到发电机中提供给医院的：Moleybdenum-99在发电机中腐烂了大约一周的技术，而Technetium提取并用于诊断程序。但是有一个问题。目前，只能在一些专门的核反应堆中进行大量的钼99，这些反应堆变得太老了，无法安全运行，并且在需求不断增长的情况下，两个主要反应堆的近期故障造成了供应危机。为了使其陷入困境，去年进行了3600万个核医学程序，其中大多数需要Technetium。来自曼彻斯特大学和兰开斯特大学的研究人员正在研究一种使用粒子加速器生产技术的新方法。他们使用与LHC这样的粒子壁中使用的技术类似的技术，他们建议使用高功率射频四极杆（RFQ）将离子加速到靶标中以产生中子。就像他们打算更换的反应堆中一样，这些中子可以用来制造钼99。尽管RFQ不能像反应堆那样多地中子，但建造和运营的价格要便宜得多，而且在全国各地都可以建造许多中子，以提供钼99的国内供应，尽管英国目前没有使用超过一百万剂剂量的技术。一旦优化了RFQ和目标，研究人员计划建立一个原型加速器，以证明该技术的商业可行性，并正在与公司讨论如何做到这一点。