Speaker
Prof.
Robert Reed
(Vanderbilt University)
Description
The sudden closure of the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility (IUCF) has forced the space community to evaluate alternate medical proton cancer therapy center cyclotrons for single event effects (SEE) test in the 200 MeV regime. These new facilities offer increased reliability well adapted to medical needs, but create scheduling and technical challenges for those adapted to IUCF. A team of regular users is investigating these proton facilities for SEE and is currently performing initial tests to prove results.
IUCF has been the primary source of 200 MeV regime protons for the space community since the early 1990s. The facility had supplied approximately 2000 annual hours of beam time prior to its closure in October 2014. The closure has resulted in a critical shortage of high energy proton test capability in the United States. To fill this gap, the authors have undertaken an evaluation of proton cancer treatment centers for their ability to provide proton beams suitable for SEE testing. The goal is to establish test capabilities to replace IUCF for the entire proton test capability. The complete paper will list all promising facilities and their critical attributes, discuss the unique differences between modern medical beams and those that had been typically used in proton SEE testing, and will report on preliminary test results from a typical medical proton facility. A simple, single replacement is not possible; therefore, short and long-term possibilities will be discussed. The fiscal climates related to developing a single IUCF-like facility are unlikely to happen, although it cannot be ruled out. With this is mind, the short term approach focuses on how to use a group of proton therapy facilities as an IUCF replacement.
Primary author
Prof.
Robert Reed
(Vanderbilt University)
