Development of an accelerator driven neutron activator for medical radioisotope production

A compact, accelerator driven, neutron activator based on a modified version of the Adiabatic Resonance Crossing (ARC) concept has been developed, with the aim of efficiently utilising ion-beam generated neutrons for the production of radioactive nanoparticles for brachytherapy. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations have been carried out to optimise the design of the activator, which is based on a hybrid approach, coupling a lead buffer and a graphite reflector. Computational Fluid Dynamic methods have been used for the thermal–hydraulic design of the neutron-generating beryllium target to ensure efficient water cooling under high proton beam currents. The facility has been tested under various experimental configurations, and the activation yields of different materials, measured with γ-spectrometry techniques, have been compared with theoretical predictions. In this paper the main elements of the activator are described, and calculated and measured results for pure Au, Mo, Ho, and Re foils as well as for Re and Ho nanoparticle samples are presented. A satisfactory agreement between experiment and theory was found, confirming that the improved ARC activator developed in this work is suitable for isotope production for certain applications such as brachytherapy.