Low-Energy Proton Facility

Description

The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is preparing to procure an upgrade to its current low-energy proton facility on the Wirral site. Lot 1: The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre NHS Foundation Trust is preparing to procure an upgrade to its current low-energy proton facility on the Wirral site. The cyclotron, manufactured by Scanditronix (Model: MC-62 PF isochronous cyclotron), was installed at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre’s Wirral site in 1984 and remains reliable. The beam-line and associated components to enable the treatment of ocular tumours with low energy protons largely remains the same as installed in 1989. Whilst the main accelerating structures are of a robust and reliable design, a number of system, subsystem and component choices in the current technology that would not be favoured if the machine was specified and built in 2020. It is expected that more advanced technologies, improved manufacturing processes, enhanced monitoring diagnostics and instrumentation are now commercially available. There are a number of broad areas of the equipment that we believe would benefit from upgrade. These include the dosimetry control system, the RF system, the vacuum system, the coolant system and the beam-line. Yap, J., Resta-López, J., Kacperek, A., Schnuerer, R., Jolly, S., Boogert, S., and Welsch, C. (2020). Beam characterisation studies of the 62 MeV proton therapy beamline at the Clatterbridge Cancer Centre. Physica Medica, 77(August), 108-120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmp.2020.08.002