nuclear physics in poland 1996 – 2006

Funds of the European Union foreseen for Polandin 2007-2013. Another interesting application isneutron radiography, developed mainly formaterials science. Thermal neutrons are scatteredvery effectively by ordinary liquids, which opensthe way to study at greater detail the migration ofliquids in many inorganic porous materials bymeans of neutron radiography. Propagation ofwater in bricks used for housing construction hasbeen investigated by exploring the differencebetween neutron scattering cross sections.The Henryk Niewodniczański Institute ofNuclear Physics (Polish acronym IFJ) with450 employees and 70 Ph.D. students is the largestinstitute of the Polish Academy of Science. Severalaccelerators at IFJ are applied in projects related tomedicine and protection of the environment. TheAIC-144 isochronous cyclotron, in-house designedand built, is the only accelerator in Poland able toaccelerate a beam of protons to energies of about60 MeV. This cyclotron was used to produce apalette of radioisotopes and since 2006 it is beingadapted to develop the first Polish facility forproton radiotherapy of eye cancer. The facility willbe completed in 2007 (see Fig.5) and aftercommissioning in 2008, the first patients will betreated. The Kraków Proton Microprobe, based ona Van der Graaff unit which accelerates protons toan energy of up to 3 MeV, is an important tool inlife sciences and biomedical applications. Survivalof mammalian cells after a controlled number ofproton “hits” has been studied to gain moreinformation on the “by-stander effect” inradiobiology. Another major installation at the IFJis the Dual Beam Ion Implanter where complexbiocompatible coating layers with excellentadhesion and low internal stresses can be created,e.g. for use in medical implants. The radiationhazard in space has been studied on board of theInternational Space Station within the ESAMatroshka project. Over 3000 thermoluminescentdetectors, developed and produced at the IFJ, wereinstalled in a humanoid phantom and exposed inopen space to investigate space radiation doses tovarious human organs.The Institute of Nuclear Chemistry andTechnology (ICHTJ), established in Warsaw-Żerańin 1983, is involved in research in the field ofradiation chemistry and technology, application ofnuclear methods in material engineering andprocess engineering, design and production ofinstruments based on nuclear and radioanalyticaltechniques, and in environmental research Aconsiderable achievement of the ICHTJ was thesuccessful installation of an industrial electronbeam to treat gaseous effluents of the PomorzanyFig. 5. Elements of the eye proton therapy installation for eyeirradiation at the Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kraków.Electric Power Station (EPS) near Szczecin, one ofthe first such industrial installations in Europe.The process involves fast oxidation of SO 2 andNO x , acid formation and gaseous ammonianeutralization of acids to a solid aerosol formwhich is collected on-site at the EPS and later usedas a high-quality fertilizer in agriculture. TheICHTJ also produces a number of specializedinstruments for use in industry, medicine andenvironmental protection. The dose-rate activityFig. 6. The dose-rate activity gauge MAD-2000 for measurementsof the dose rate and activity of 106Ru and 125Ibrachytherapy applicators for eye cancer radiotherapy, developedat ICHTJ.gauge MAD-2000 measures the dose rate andactivity of 106 Ru and 125 I brachytherapy applicatorsfor eye cancer radiotherapy (Fig. 6). TheAMIZ2000 airborne monitor gauge is designed tomeasure airborne dust concentration. Theseinstruments can work either as individual dustpollution monitors or be interconnected within a35