TRIUMF’s Superconducting Radiofrequency (SRF) facility is Canada’s only centre for the research, design, testing, and assembly of SRF accelerator technologies. Since 2000 the TRIUMF SRF team has collaborated with university research and laboratory partners worldwide, and designed, assembled and maintained TRIUMF’s two SRF accelerators, the ISAC-II Superconducting Heavy-Ion linear accelerator (SC-linac) and the ARIEL Electron … Continued
From their origins in targets and ion sources, TRIUMF’s rare isotope beams (RIBs) travel on to navigate two important technologies: mass separators and charge breeders. The singly-ionized rare isotopes enter a High-Resolution Mass Separator (HRS) in order to create a purified, high-intensity RIB of ideally just a single selected isotope. From the mix of products emerging … Continued
At its core, a rare isotope production target is a material, such as uranium carbide, that when irradiated undergoes nuclear reactions that produce rare isotopes. TRIUMF’s two target drivers, accelerated protons and electrons, can each be used with a variety of target materials to induce different kinds of nuclear reactions and produce different types and … Continued
TRIUMF’s rare isotope production facilities also include a series of three different post-target accelerators that accelerate heavy ions to energies required by TRIUMF experiments, for example mimicking the energetic conditions of rare isotopes in an exploding star. The three accelerators operate sequentially in a way analogous to the gearing system in a car with a … Continued
The second driver for TRIUMF’s rare isotope beam program is the new electron linear accelerator (e-linac), the world’s highest power e-linac for rare isotope production, which will come fully online in 2021. Unlike the spiral of a cyclotron, the 25-meter-long e-linac accelerates electrons in a straight line. Starting with a fingernail-sized electron source, the e-linac … Continued
TRIUMF’s 520 MeV cyclotron, one of the world’s largest cyclotrons, accelerates negative hydrogen ions to 75% the speed of light to produce intense proton beams for rare isotope production and a variety of other particle physics applications. The 18-meter diameter, clamshell-shaped 520 MeV cyclotron structure is iconic in design, construction, operation and scientific output. The … Continued
TRIUMF’s Radiochemistry Annex (RCA) facility, and its 30-person Applied Technology Group (ATG), support the cyclotron-based production of lifesaving diagnostic and treatment medical isotopes for the treatment of about 35,000 people worldwide every week. The facility is the core of TRIUMF’s industrial partnership with BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) which owns three on-site cyclotrons operated and maintained by … Continued
Housed at the opposite end of the Meson Hall from the 520 MeV cyclotron, the TR-13 is TRIUMF’s cyclotron specialized for the production of medical isotopes for both clinical use and research. During the past twenty years, the TR-13, TRIUMF’s smallest cyclotron, has played a central role in the development of the University of British Columbia‘s world-class positron emission tomography (PET) clinical research program, … Continued
TR-24 cyclotron: TRIUMF technology comes full circle The cornerstone of TRIUMF’s Institute for Advanced Medical Isotopes (IAMI) will be a 500 microamp, TR-24 cyclotron designed for the rapid, reliable and high yielding production of medical isotopes. Manufactured by Richmond B.C.-based Advanced Cyclotron Systems Inc. (ACSI), IAMI’s TR-24 cyclotron is an example of TRIUMF’s technology transfer bearing long-term fruit. In the early 1970s, Richmond, B.C.-based heavy industry leader EBCO was … Continued