Simulation of a 36 h solar particle event at LLUMC using a proton beam scanning system

A radiation biology experiment was performed in the research room of the proton therapy facility at Loma Linda University Medical Center to simulate the proton exposure produced by a solar particle event. The experiment used two scanning magnets for X and Y deflection of the proton beam and covered a usable target area of nearly 1 m2. The magnet scanning control system consisted of Lab View 6.0 software running on a PC. The goal of this experiment was to study the immune system response of 48 mice simultaneously exposed to 2 Gy of protons that simulated the dose rate and energy spectrum of the September 1989 solar particle event. The 2 Gy dose was delivered to the entrance of the mice cages over 36 h. Both ion chamber and TLD measurements indicated that the dose delivered was within 9% of the intended value. A spot scanning technique using one spot per accelerator cycle (2.2 s) was used to deliver doses as low as 1 μGy per beam spot. Rapid beam termination (less than 5 ms) on each spot was obtained by energizing a quadrupole in the proton synchrotron once the dose limit was reached for each spot. A parallel plate ion chamber placed adjacent to the mice cages provided fluence (or dose) measurements for each beam energy during each hour of the experiment. An intensity modulated spot scanning technique can be used in a variety of ways for radiation biology and a second experiment is being designed with this proton beam scanning system to simultaneously irradiate four groups of mice with different dose rates within the 1 m2 area. Also, large electronic devices being tested for radiation damage have been exposed in this beam without the use of patch fields. The same scanning system has potential application for intensity modulated proton therapy (IMPT) as well. This paper discusses the beam delivery system and dosimetry of the irradiation. © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.