PROTEUS - Proton production of medical radioisotopes for Enhanced Utilization and Supply

PROTEUS - 医用放射性同位素的质子生产，以增强利用和供应

• 批准号: ST/Y509905/1
• 负责人: Tom Scott
• 金额: $ 63.46万
• 依托单位: University of Bristol
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FY509905%2F1
• 关键词: PROTEUS; Proton; production; medical; radioisotopes

Describe the research in simple terms in a way that could be publicised to a general audience. This will be made publicly available, and Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the content is suitable for publication. No more than, 4000 characters between 1 and 2 Pages including spaces and returns.In the UK, the supply of medical radioisotopes to support the NHS is in a critically poor condition. Anticipated disruptions in the global and European supply chain for medical radioisotopes are furthermore expected to worsen this situation as many research reactors across Europe are scheduled to be retired by 2030. Because the UK lacks a domestic research reactor to natively compensate for the reduced international production capacity, the risk of further radioisotope shortages will increase both prices and pressure on the NHS. Because of the high capital investment necessary to replace ageing reactors as well as decadal timescales for planning and construction, alternative supply chains are urgently needed.The UK's globally leading position in fusion research opens up a valuable opportunity to address this problem by using fusion technology as a radiation source for nuclear transmutation. Inertial electrostatically confined fusion (IECF) uses electric fields rather than magnetic fields to confine a hydrogen/helium plasma mixture, and electrostatic acceleration of ions provides the kinetic energy to enable fusing of such light elements. IECF technology was developed in the 1960s and is well understood, with dozens of universities building demonstration systems for research purposes to produce a variety of high energy particles. At the University of Bristol (UoB), a more sophisticated system was designed as an open source hardware particle accelerator capable of producing both neutron and proton radiation for materials research and transmutation experiments. Funded by the STFC under the CLASP scheme, this particle accelerator, referred to as B34, is the ideal platform to explore the viability of compact IECF devices as a technical pathway towards cheaper and more local medical radioisotope production.The B34 system is designed to produce protons at sufficiently high fluxes to make production of light medical isotopes possible. The system utilises fusion reactions between deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen) and Helium-3 (the light isotope of helium) to produce protons, which are much easier to shield than the neutrons that are produced by other types of fusion reaction. This means that with further development, the B34 could form the basis for a compact and cheap commercial device for producing medical isotopes in hospitals - right where the isotopes are needed. This would be a substantial game-changer for the NHS and for the medical sector more widely. At the end of the project, the efficiency of nuclear transmutation through IECF proton irradiation will be sufficiently understood to assess economic viability in comparison to other alternatives such as linear accelerator or cyclotron-type particle accelerators.

用简单的术语描述可以向普通受众群体公开的方式。这将公开可用，申请人负责确保内容适合发布。不超过1到2页之间的4000个字符，包括空间和收益。此外，全球和欧洲医疗放射性病的供应链的预期中断预计将恶化这种情况，因为欧洲的许多研究反应堆计划在2030年之前退休。由于英国缺乏国内研究反应器无法本质上弥补国际生产能力的降低，因此进一步的放射性病短缺的风险会增加NHS的价格和压力。由于替换老化反应堆以及五年时间尺度进行规划和建设所需的高资本投资，因此迫切需要替代供应链。英国在融合研究中的全球领先地位为融合研究中的全球领先地位提供了一个宝贵的机会，通过将融合技术用作核透射的辐射源来解决这一问题。惯性静电限制融合（IECF）使用电场而不是磁场来限制氢/氦等离子体混合物，而离子的静电加速度为能量提供了能量以允许这种光元素融合。 IECF技术是在1960年代开发的，并被众所周知，数十所大学构建了用于研究目的的演示系统，以生产各种高能量颗粒。在布里斯托尔大学（UOB），一个更复杂的系统被设计为一种开源硬件粒子加速器，能够生产中子和质子辐射，用于材料研究和传输实验。该粒子加速器（称为B34）由STFC资助，是探索紧凑型IECF设备的可行性的理想平台，作为通往更便宜，更本地的医疗放射性分离性生产的技术途径。B34系统旨在生产足够高的质子，以使质子产生充足的透气，从而使轻型医疗速度生产。该系统利用氘（氢的同位素）和氦3（氦的轻质同位素）之间的融合反应产生质子，质子比其他类型的融合反应产生的中子要容易得多。这意味着，随着进一步的开发，B34可以为在需要同位素的地方生产医疗同位素的紧凑且廉价的商业设备的基础。对于NHS和医疗部门而言，这将是一个实质性的改变游戏规则。 在项目结束时，与其他替代方案相比，将通过IECF质子照射通过IECF质子照射的效率进行足够的理解，以评估经济可行性。