Assessment of the Beam Shaping Assembly for BNCT medical applications by neutron tomography

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a non-invasive binary radiotherapy combining the low-energy neutron irradiation and a boron-enriched drug able to accumulate preferentially in cancer cells. At present, the design of a clinical BNCT facility based on a 5 MeV, 30 mA radio frequency quadrupole proton accelerator is underway in Italy, in the frame of a PNC-PNRR project (ANTHEM) and requires an accurate determination of the materials to be used in the Beam Shaping Assembly (BSA). In this proposal, the proponents aim to characterise promising BSA solid samples obtained by sintering of AlF3 powder, Alliflu (AlF3+LiF) powder, and MgF2 powder. In particular, we aim to study these samples non-destructively assessing the presence of eventual porosity within the bulk of the sintered solid sample, its effective transparency to neutrons by 2D transmission image of the sample, and the uniformity of the lithium distribution. Results from this experiment will directly contribute to the development of the design of a clinical BNCT facility underway in Italy, in the frame of a PNC-PNRR project (ANTHEM). The new information on the uniformity of the samples will be in fact very useful to update the simulations of the BSA. These, in turn, will allow for a better tailoring of the materials and the geometrical configuration to optimise the neutron beam for the patients.