A novel accelerator is proposed to provide low energy deuteron beams for the production of short-lived radioisotopes for positron emission tomography. This accelerator, designed in Phase 1, will be capable of producing clinically significant activities of 150 in solid nitride targets and will be less costly and easier to operate than the cyclotron facilities currently in use. The Cascade Tandem Accelerator (CTA) combines two existing electrostatic acceleration technologies to provide 200 muA deuteron beams at energies of 3-4 MeV. In this program, a CTA will be fabricated and tested, and used to produce 15O by the 14N(d,n)150 nuclear reaction. Target processing and rapid automated synthesis of 150-label radiopharmaceuticals will be investigated concurrently. It is anticipated that a simple to operate and inexpensive 150 facility, along with 18F-labeled compounds produced at regional centers and generator-produced isotopes will make possible the more widespread use of PET in clinical applications.
