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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
S. Oliver, S. Morató, B. Juste, R. Miró, G. Verdú, N. Tejedor, J. Pérez-Calatayud
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 2 | February 2024 | Pages 264-273
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2192312
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High-energy radiotherapy treatments of a medical Linear Accelerator (LinAc) generate secondary neutrons that can produce health damage on the human body as the induction of secondary cancers. The energy spectrum of these neutrons must be determined to estimate the extra dose received by patients inside a radiotherapy room during radiotherapy treatment. To quantify the neutron production, a Ludlum Bonner sphere spectrometer (BSS) is used for measurement at different points of a LinAc bunker at the Hospital Universitari i Politècnic La Fe de València. With the neutron measured data and a set of response detector curves obtained by Monte Carlo simulations with MCNP6.1.1, the Maximum Likelihood Expectation Maximization unfolding method is used to unfold the energy neutron spectrum. Unfolded neutron spectra at different locations were compared to those obtained by Monte Carlo simulation of the same setup, showing the same energetic behavior. The fluence rate decreases with source distance, and the shape changes from a fast neutron peak in the nearest LinAc head location to a prominent thermal neutron peak in the bunker maze region. Moreover, the neutron ambient equivalent dose was obtained from the unfolded spectra and compared to Berthold detector measurements, being consistent.