Publicatie Laka-bibliotheek:
Medical isotope production using Lighthouse accelerator
| Auteur | J.W.Blokker |
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6-07-4-60-40.pdf |
| Datum | november 2017 |
| Classificatie | 6.07.4.60/40 (ALLERLEI - MEDISCHE ISOTOPEN - NUCLEAIRE GENEESKUNDE ) |
| Voorkant | 
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Uit de publicatie:
Medical isotope production using Lighthouse accelerator J.W. Blokker to obtain the degree of Bachelor of Science in Applied Physics at the Delft University of Technology, to be defended on Wednesday November 1, 2017 at 02:00 PM. Abstract The number of new cancer cases unfortunately increases each year and is expected to grow to 23.6 million in 2030. In order to treat all these new cases new and cheaper ways of fighting cancer are needed. One method that is becoming more popular is the use of medical isotopes that emit radiation which destroys the tumor. Many of these isotopes are produced in specialized nuclear reactors. There are only a handful of these reactors in the world, making production expensive and resulting in a limited production capacity. A new way of producing these isotopes would be to use ASML’s Lighthouse accelerator, which uses electron beams to create radioactive molybdenum isotopes for medical research, emitting neutrons in the process. The goal of this thesis was to investigate if the neutrons emitted from the molybdenum could be used to create more medical isotopes. Two isotopes were chosen to be studied; 166Ho and 177Lu. Lutetium needs no special preparation before irradiation, but in order to use radioactive holmium atoms for cancer treatment they have to be placed in special lactic acid microspheres. The placement of the holmium atoms in the microspheres happens before irradiation.