Аssessment of the Capabilities of the MBIR Reactor‘s Horizontal Experimental Channels for Neutron Therapy

3/25/2025 2025 - #01 Nuclear medicine and biology

Kravets S.V. Klinov D.A. Kurachenko Y.A.

https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2025.1.11

The paper presents the results of determining the possibility of using the horizontal experimental channels of the MBIR reactor for neutron capture therapy studies. The collimator configuration for the neutron beam extraction with specified properties was justified computationally. The peculiarities of the reactor give grounds for a positive assessment of this prospect, primarily the hard spectrum and the uniquely high intensity of the beams. The paper considers the capability of channel No. 5 as the most suitable for neutron capture therapy due to a combination of characteristics. The simplest possible axisymmetric collimator was selected for the calculations to assess the key functionalities of neutron capture therapy. The configuration and material composition of the collimator are defined by the experience of calculations. Two fundamental characteristics were analyzed to assess the capabilities of the neutron beam of MBIR’s channel No. 5 for neutron capture therapy. These are the dose in the target (soft tumor tissue) containing 65 ppm of 10B, and the dose in healthy tissue containing 18 ppm of 10B. The task in the series of calculations was as follows: to determine the dynamics of the key values for neutron capture therapy with a variable thickness of the moderator in the collimator channel – the time for gaining a fixed “therapeutic” dose in the target (tumor) and the time for gaining the maximum “tolerance” dose in healthy tissue when the target moves along the depth of the phantom. The distribution of these characteristics through the depth of the tissue allows us to conclude that the beam extraction configuration under consideration is effective. The obtained results of the spectral neutron distribution at the outlet of channel No. 5 and the estimated dose characteristics in healthy tissue and in the tumor confirm that it is technically possible to use this channel for neutron capture therapy.

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MBIR neutron capture therapy horizontal experimental channel collimator therapeutic dose tolerance dose neutron beam

Link for citing the article: Kravets S.V., Klinov D.A., Kurachenko Y.A. Аssessment of the Capabilities of the MBIR Reactor‘s Horizontal Experimental Channels for Neutron Therapy. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2025, no. 1, pp. 152-163; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2025.1.11 (in Russian).