Mission

The mission of the Center is to supply cyclotron radioisotopes for
nuclear medicine and basic research purposes, by mean cyclotron irradiation.

The main objective of the Cyclotron Accelerators Center (CAC) is irradiate targets to supply cyclotron radioisotopes for use in medical diagnosis and general research. The total area of the Center is 1,415 square meters. On the ground floor two cyclotrons are installed: a CV-28 model, manufactured by The Cyclotron Corporation (USA), which can accelerate protons, deuterons, 3He++ and alpha particles with energies up to 24, 14, 36 e 28 MeV, respectively, and a Cyclone 30 model, manufactured by Ion Beam Applications (Belgium), which accelerates negative ions of H- with energies between 15 and 30 MeV. On this floor there are some peripheral equipment such as chillers, water cooling pumps, air compressor, power supply rooms, laboratories and offices for technical and administration personnel. On the upper floor fan coils, deionized water system, water cooling pumps, some parts of RF system of Cyclone 30 are installed.

In the years 1999 and 2000 the CV-28 cyclotron was used only for research in several fields such as excitation function studies, new radioisotopes investigation and target development. Now it is out of operation. Since 1999 the Cyclone 30 model has been used only for routine radioisotope production for medical diagnosis due to its high external beam current (up to 350 A) and the extracted beam energy range. With this cyclotron two different beams can be extracted simultaneously which enables the production of two radioisotopes at the same time. Up to 2004, 18F, 123I and 67Ga are routinely produced (18F-: four times a week). In 2005 the production of 201Tl will be started to substitute the imported material. To improve the performance and optimize the parameters of the cyclotron during the irradiations, CAC is developing some research in the field of target system, target automation and beam position monitoring and beam homogeneity. The staff of the Center is composed by three physicists, four engineers, seven technicians, three members of the Radiation Protection Division and a secretary in charge of administrative functions.

Wanderley de Lima
Manager

R&D activities

• Cyclotron CV-28

• Publication list