MedAustron board visits CERN

On 14 October, the board of EBG MedAustron, which is overseeing the construction of Austria’s hadron therapy centre, visited CERN. The visit recognized the relationship of shared knowledge, technology and training between CERN and MedAustron.
 

After Steve Myer’s opening presentation, the MedAustron visit to CERN continued with a tour of the CMS cavern and the CERN Control Centre. The visit to Linac3 and LEIR (Low Energy Ion Ring) was of particular interest to the board members because the beginning of the LHC ion injector chain is similar to the accelerator complex that will be at the heart of the MedAustron hadron therapy centre.

This partnership with CERN has existed since EBG MedAustron’s participation in the Proton Ion Medical Machine Study (PIMMS) in 1995. The MedAustron hadron therapy complex is based on the PIMMS conceptual design and the engineering design of CNAO (Italian Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica). The whole complex will occupy a surface of 20000 m². The accelerator, which is being built in close collaboration with CERN, will have 300 magnets (requiring 700 tons of steel), which will steer beams of protons and carbon ions. About 1200 patients every year will be treated in its three medical treatment rooms. Four students and sixteen EBG MedAustron scientists and engineers, eight of whom were trainees of the Austria-CERN PhD program, are currently working and training at CERN.



The members of the MedAustron board of directors and the project’s contributors in the Salle des Pas Perdus.

 

Four students and sixteen EBG MedAustron scientists and engineers, eight of whom took part in the Austria-CERN PhD program, are currently working and training at CERN. The MedAustron team at CERN is integrated in various technical groups, studying all aspects of accelerator design for medical applications. The team will return to Austria in 2012 to install the accelerator in the MedAustron building. By then the team will have gained sufficient knowledge to also operate and maintain the facility, which is expected to start operation in 2013. “The strong collaboration with CERN is an essential ingredient for our project and an excellent example of large-scale technology transfer from CERN and high-energy physics”, states Klaus Schneeberger, president of the MedAustron board.

by CERN Bulletin