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From the viewpoints of the advantage depths (ADs), peak tumor dose and skin dose, we evaluated the effect on the dose distribution of neutron beam properties, namely the ratio between thermal and epithermal neutron fluxes (thermal/epithermal ratio), fast neutron component and γ-ray component. Several parameter surveys were conducted with respect to the beam properties of neutron sources for boron neutron capture therapy assuming boronophenylalanine as the boron agent using our dose calculation tool, called SiDE. The ADs decreased by 3% at a thermal/epithermal ratio of 20–30% compared with the current recommendation of 5%. The skin dose increased with the increasing thermal/epithermal ratio, reaching a restricted value of 14 Gyeq at a thermal/epithermal ratio of 48%. The fast neutron component was modified using two different models, namely the ‘linear model’, in which the fast neutron intensity decreases log-linearly with the increasing neutron energy, and the ‘moderator thickness (MT) model’, in which the fast neutron component is varied by adjusting the MT in a virtual beam shaping assembly. Although a higher fast neutron component indicated a higher skin dose, the increment was <10% at a fast neutron component of <1 × 10−12 Gy cm2 for both models. Furthermore, in the MT model, the epithermal neutron intensity at a fast neutron component of 6.8 × 10−13 Gy cm2 was 41% higher compared with that of 2 × 10−13 Gy cm2. The γ-ray component also caused no significant disadvantages up to several times larger compared with the current recommendation.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a highly targeted radiation therapy that shows great promise for treating tumors that are challenging to address with conventional methods. The dose deposited in the tumor during a treatment can be monitored by detecting prompt gamma rays at 478 keV generated by boron neutron capture reactions within the tumor cells. However, this task is highly challenging due to the significant background of neutrons and gamma rays present during treatment that risk to mask the useful signal. An additional challenge is represented by borated polyethylene typically used for radioprotection purposes in the walls of the treatment rooms, which generates gamma rays of the same energy of the ones of clinical interest. To address these issues, we propose a scintillator-based detection system, integrating a pinhole collimator, an artificial neural network for gamma-ray position reconstruction and a multi-layer shielding strategy. This system successfully imaged borated samples with concentrations as low as 1843 ppm of 10 B, achieving a spatial resolution of approximately 1 cm, during neutron irradiation with a fluence rate of 10 7 n/cm 2 /s at the accelerator-based neutron facility at Nagoya University, demonstrating its potential for dose monitoring in clinical-like BNCT environments.

The glow curve components and thermoluminescence (TL) parameters of BeO ceramics plates with high bioequivalence were analyzed using extremely slow heating rates. Thermalox 995 was used as the BeO ceramic plates, which is a material with a BeO content of 99.5% or higher. The size of the plates was 10 × 10 × 0.7 mm 3 with a density of 2.85 g/cm 3 , and an effective atomic number of 7.13. A linear accelerator was used for irradiation of the BeO plates at 5 Gy of 6 MV X-rays. After irradiation, the TL glow curve was measured using an in-house developed measurement instrument; the TL intensity was recorded from 50 to 400 °C with heating rates of 0.133, 0.05, and 0.005 °C/s used in three patterns. General-order kinetics were used for the theoretical analysis, which takes recapture into account. After irradiation, post-annealing was performed in the range of 50 to 350 °C at 50 °C intervals, and component analysis of the glow curves was also performed. The TL parameters were calculated from glow curves measured up to a heating rate that was three orders of magnitude slower than that previously measured. The activation energy and frequency factor for the main glow component at low temperatures were 1.15 eV and 1.11 × 10 11 /s, respectively, while those for the main glow component at high temperatures were 1.74 eV and 8.65 × 10 13 /s. The glow peak for the BeO ceramic plates were also determined have a low TL intensity component in close proximity to these two glow components. Furthermore, an increase in TL efficiency was observed when the glow curve was measured using an extremely slow heating rate. This may be due to a change of the carriers from TL-inactive when the glow curve is measured with a fast heating rate to TL-active with a longer thermal excitation time.

The Nagoya University Accelerator-driven Neutron Source (NUANS) is an accelerator-based neutron source by 7Li(p,n)7Be reaction with a 2.8 MeV proton beam up to 15 mA. The fast neutrons are moderated and shaped to beam with a Beam Shaping Assembly (BSA). NUANS is aiming at the basic study of the Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) such as an in vitro cell-based irradiation experiment using a water phantom. Moreover, the BSA is developed as a prototype of one for human treatment. We have evaluated the radiation field of NUANS by a Monte Carlo code PHITS. It is confirmed that the radiation characteristics at the BNCT outlet meet the requirement of IAEA TECDOC-1223. Additionally, the radiation field in the water phantom located just in front of the BSA outlet is calculated. In the in vitro irradiation experiment, the boron dose of 30 Gy-eq, which is the dose to kill tumor cells, is expected for 20 min of irradiation at the beam current of 15 mA.

The Nagoya University Accelerator driven Neutron Source (NUANS) is constructed at the main campus of the Nagoya University. The electrostatic accelerator is used with the maximum proton energy and intensity of 2.8MeV, 15mA(42kW) respectively. Two neutron beamlines are designed at NUANS. The BL1 is dedicated to BNCT development. The BL2 is designed for research and development for neutron devices and neutron imaging. The neutrons used for the BL2 are generated by using the (p, n) reaction from a thin beryllium target. We constructed a compact target station for the BL2 and measured the neutron transmission image.

Abstract An optical fiber-based neutron detector is a real-time neutron monitor for an intense neutron field. A small piece of neutron scintillator, such as Ce-doped lithium glass (Li-glass), used in the detector has a random shape with a grain size of 200–400 μm. This causes shape-dependent effects on the detector response. However, it is difficult to control or determine its shape due to its small size. Here we propose a technique to characterize the fine structure of a small piece of scintillator using a microcomputed tomography (CT) system. To verify accuracy, the mass calculated based on the density of Li-glass and the volume extracted from the obtained CT image was compared to the mass measured in advance using an electronic balance. In the obtained CT images, the fine shape of the small piece of Li-glass was clearly visible, and no false signals from the surrounding components were observed. The calculated mass was in good agreement with the measured value, however, when the total number of projection images was 2000, a slight underestimation was observed. This was mitigated by increasing the number of projection images, and the difference between the calculated and measured mass was 1.6% when the number of the projection images was 3141. This was equivalent to the uncertainty of the measured mass. The proposed technique will be useful when high accuracy is needed, such as for medical applications.

In boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), neutrons and γ-rays cause different biological effects, and it is necessary to discriminate between them for treatment planning and periodic inspections. Currently, the BeO powder thermoluminescence dosimeter (BeO powder TLD) is used for γ-ray dosimetry in mixed neutron and γ-ray fields due to the small capture cross section for neutrons, but correction is required because of the effects of neutron-induced activation. Besides, sales of BeO powder TLDs have been discontinued because the highly toxic BeO is readily dispersed when the detector is damaged. Therefore, the development of alternative replacement technologies for BeO powder TLDs that are not affected by neutrons is an important issue. In this study, we investigated the measurement of the γ-ray dose during BNCT using a BeO ceramic TLD, whereby the BeO was not released into the air. After 5, 15, 30, and 60 min of irradiation using the Kyoto University Research Reactor, the amount of thermoluminescence (TL) from the BeO ceramic TLD was shown to increase with irradiation time. In addition, the γ-ray dose, which was derived by converting the amount of TL to the dose, showed excellent proportionality to the irradiation time and was found to be comparable to the γ-ray dose measured with a BeO powder TLD. These results demonstrated that the BeO ceramic TLD can selectively measure only the γ-ray dose without influence by neutrons. Thus, our approach represents a new γ-ray dose measurement strategy that does not require correction for the contribution from thermal neutrons.