Medical research reactorIn 1959, at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., the first U.S. atomic reactor built specifically for medical research, Brookhaven Medical Research Reactor, reached criticality. The BMRR was a 5 megawatt, modified tank-type reactor, which superceded the Brookfield Graphite Research Reactor. It produced a neutron flux of as many as 20 trillion neutrons per square centimeter per second. The reactor was mainly used for developing and testing boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), a promising treatment for patients with a deadly form of brain cancer called glioblastoma multiforme. BNCT uses radiation and a boron compound to destroy cancer cells while leaving healthy cells intact. Use of the reactor ceased in Dec 2000.« |
