DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL MICRO-LINAC FOR RADIOLOGICAL SOURCE REPLACEMENT?

To improve public security and prevent the diversion of radioactive material for Radiation Dispersion Devices RadiaBeam is developing an inexpensive, portable, linac-based, and easy-to-manufacture structure to allow effective capture of a ~13 keV electron beam injected from a conventional electron gun and acceleration to a final energy a ~ 1 MeV. The bremsstrahlung X-rays produced by the electron beam on a high-Z converter at the end of the linac is capable to match the penetration and dose rate of typical source used in radiography. A tubular Disk-and-Ring structure under development consists of metal and dielectric elements that do not need complicated brazing. The X-band design may allow significant simplifying the system fabrication to enable inexpensive mass-production required for replacement of the ~55,000 radionuclide sources in the US.