Conveners
Metrology & Applications
- Pete Jones ()
Metrology & Applications
- Alison Bruce (University of Brighton)
Metrology & Applications
- Tanya Hutton (University of Cape Town)
Metrology & Applications
- Milton van Rooy (NMISA)
NMISA supports the South African industry with measurement traceability and measurement solutions. The ionising radiation division has dosimetry and radioactivity laboratories and recently has introduced capabilities for performing measurement audits at radiotherapy centres. The presentation will look at different programmes and projects currently running at these laboratories.
Targeted alpha therapy is a rapidly evolving discipline, referring to an emerging class of revolutionary cancer agents delivering alpha-particle-emitting radiopharmaceuticals selectively to cancerous lesions via attachment to appropriate ligands and carriers.
Clinically effective alpha particle–emitting radionuclides for cancer therapy exhibit short half-lives, (limiting long-term radiation...
A new fast neutron facility has been established within the Metrological Applied Sciences University Research Unit (MeASURe) located in the Department of Physics at the University of Cape Town. The facility features a D-T sealed tube neutron generator within a bunker which can produce a well-collimated beam of 14 MeV neutrons suitable for a wide variety of applications, including cross section...
Thoron (Rn-220) is the radon isotope with a shorter half-life (55 s) than the better known Rn-222. Thoron has been identified as a possible health concern in specific places such as monazite processing plants and (rare-earth) mines. The short half-life of thoron (55.8 s) makes thoron calibration sources and thoron chambers less common than the corresponding radon ones. We have developed a an...
We use advanced nuclear measurement techniques to study the fundamental physics of material flows and the dynamics of physical systems. At the previous ANSTT meeting we presented a research strategy broadly aligned to the scientific programme. We now present developments over the past year, including new high speed data acquisition systems, machine learning explorations, and novel radioisotope...
I will explore the growing relationship between measurement in nuclear science and the science of measurement. In recent times metrology is relying more on fundamental science and in November 2018 the SI units were redefined with direct traceability to the fundamental constants of nature. I will illustrate how metrology in playing a more central role in nuclear physics, including at iThemba...
Results are presented from the first in-beam experiment using the NuBALL hybrid HPGe-LaBr3 gamma-ray spectrometer at IPN, Orsay, performed in November 2017, with the physics aim of determining the electromagnetic transition rates to the ground state of the N=100 nucleus 166Dy. In this first configuration, the NuBALL spectrometer comprised 24 Compton suppressed HPGe Clover detectors, 10 coaxial...
The natural occurring radionuclides of thorium, uranium and potassium is present in varying concentrations in all rocks and sand. Natural radionuclides can therefore be a good tool when studying sediment characteristics. The uranium nuclide usually has the lowest activity concentrations, and potassium by far the highest concentrations. Natural radionuclide concentrations were consequently...
Prompt Gamma Imaging (PGI) focuses on the detection of secondary (prompt) gammas during a proton therapy treatment. With the use of a Compton camera, PGI is working to create an in-vivo image of the dose deposited within the patient as a dose verification system. I will present the UCT PGI detection system and the current work being performed. I will also discuss the next steps towards the...
Direct monitoring of targets for isotope production implies harsh conditions with large neutron and gamma fields. These have implications on the type of instrument to use and how to extract information. Micro fission pocket detectors for nuclear power generation applications, for example, can sustain neutron fluxes in the order of 1014n/cm2/s or more. This makes them suitable to quantify...
PEPT Cape Town is a dedicated research centre focused on measuring the underlying
physics of opaque multiphase flow systems. The basis of this nuclear
measurement technique hinges on how accurate and representative the
tracer particle is of the media of interest in these dynamic applications.
This presentation will report the current state of tracer particle
techniques and the areas of...
The Positron Emission Particle Tracking (PEPT) technique has been in development in Cape Town since 2009, and allows one to track a 1mm positron-emitting point source travelling at 1m/s to within 1mm, 1000 times a second. Typically, this utilises a large, high efficiency scintillation detector like BGO. However, recent experiments have shown that high resolution, relatively high efficiency...
