Feasibility of sealed D–T neutron generator as neutron source for liver BNCT and its beam shaping assembly

• The feasibility of sealed neutron generator as neutron source for liver BNCT.
• Using natural uranium and low enrichment uranium as neutron multiplier for D–T generator is examined.
• A beam shaping assembly is designed to optimize the output neutron beam.
• The output of the assembly can fulfill the beam port recommended quality parameters by IAEA.

This paper involves the feasibility of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for liver tumor with four sealed neutron generators as neutron source. Two generators are placed on each side of the liver. The high energy of these emitted neutrons should be reduced by designing a beam shaping assembly (BSA) to make them useable for BNCT. However, the neutron flux decreases as neutrons pass through different materials of BSA. Therefore, it is essential to find ways to increase the neutron flux. In this paper, the feasibility of using low enrichment uranium as a neutron multiplier is investigated to increase the number of neutrons emitted from D-T neutron generators. The neutron spectrum related to our system has a proper epithermal flux, and the fast and thermal neutron fluxes comply with the IAEA recommended values.