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In order for ABNCT (accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy) to be successful, 10-16 kW or more must be dissipated from a target. Beryllium is well suited as a high-power target material. Beryllium has a thermal conductivity of 200 W/mK at 300 K which is comparable to aluminum, and it has one of the highest strength to weight ratios of any metal even at high temperatures (100 MPa at 600 degrees C). Submerged jet impingement cooling has been investigated as an effective means to remove averaged power densities on the order of 2 x 10(7) W/m2 with local power densities as high as 6 x 10(7) W/m2. Water velocities required to remove these power levels are in excess of 24 m/s with volumetric flow rates of nearly 100 GPM. Tests on a prototype target revealed that the heat transfer coefficient scaled as Re0.6. With jet-Reynolds numbers as high as 5.5 x 10(5) heat transfer coefficients of 2.6 x 10(5) W/m2K were achieved. With this type of cooling configuration 30 kW of power could be effectively removed from a beryllium target placed on the end of an accelerator. A beryllium target utilizing a proton beam of 3.7 MeV and cooled by submerged jet impingement could be used to deliver a dose of 13 RBE cGy/min mA to a tumor at a depth of 4 cm. With a beam power of 30 kW, 1500 cGy could be delivered in 14.2 min.

The use of the 13C(d,n) 14N reaction at Ed=1.5 MeV for accelerator-based boron neutron capture therapy (AB-BNCT) is investigated. Among the deuteron-induced reactions at low incident energy, the 3C(d,n)14N reaction turns out to be one of the best for AB-BNCT because of beneficial materials properties inherent to carbon and its relatively large neutron production cross section. The deuteron beam was produced by a tandem accelerator at MIT's Laboratory for Accelerator Beam Applications (LABA) and the neutron beam shaping assembly included a heavy water moderator and a lead reflector. The resulting neutron spectrum was dosimetrically evaluated at different depths inside a water-filled brain phantom using the dual ionization chamber technique for fast neutrons and photons and bare and cadmium-covered gold foils for the thermal neutron flux. The RBE doses in tumor and healthy tissue were calculated from experimental data assuming a tumor 10B concentration of 40 ppm and a healthy tissue 10B concentration of 11.4 ppm (corresponding to a reported ratio of 3.5:1). All results were simulated using the code MCNP, a general Monte Carlo radiation transport code capable of simulating electron, photon, and neutron transport. Experimental and simulated results are presented at 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 10 cm depths along the brain phantom centerline. An advantage depth of 5.6 cm was obtained for a treatment time of 56 min assuming a 4 mA deuteron current and a maximum healthy tissue dose of 12.5 RBE Gy.

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