CERN-MEDICIS: Operational indicators to support the production of new medical radionuclides by mass-separation

CERN-MEDICIS is an isotope mass separation facility dedicated to biomedical research located in a type A work sector, receiving on average 50% of the 1.4 GeV protons delivered by the Proton Synchrotron Booster (PSB). It was commissioned with Radioactive Ion Beams (RIB’s) in 2017. MEDICIS has operated for the past 5 years in batch mode, with targets irradiated in a station located at the HRS beam dump, and with external sources provided by MEDICIS cyclotrons and nuclear reactors partners, notably during the Long Shutdown (LS2). Additional features of the facility include the MELISSA laser ion source, radiochemistry on implanted radionuclides and an online gamma-ray spectroscopy implantation monitoring. In 2022, we introduced Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to monitor the operation of the facility for collected efficiencies, the optimisation of the radiological risks and evaluate impact of possible modifications of the station, paralleling for instance LHC’s integrated luminosity. Defined KPI’s cover aspects in the operation cycle, e.g. planning in CERN schedule, target irradiations, duration of the process, radiological risk mitigation, facility up-time, developments and maintenance. MEDICIS KPI’s can help distinguish which of the operation and infrastructure life cycle requires immediate intervention, developments or consolidation. Those are related to the irradiation stations and irradiation possibilities, the beamlines (parallel collections), target and ion sources (reliability), robot handling and infrastructure, or the separation process itself.CERN-MEDICIS is an isotope mass separation facility for biomedical R&D; located in a class A laboratory, receiving up to 50% of the 1.4GeV PSB protons. It was commissioned with radioactive ion beams in 2017. MEDICIS has operated for the past 5 years in batch mode, with targets irradiated in a dedicated beam dump station at HRS, and with external sources provided by cyclotrons and nuclear reactors MEDICIS partners, notably during Long Shutdown LS2 [1,2]. Recent additions to the CERN-MEDICIS facility are the MELISSA laser ion source, radiochemistry on implanted isotopes, and online gamma implantation monitoring.In 2022, we introduced key performance indicators (KPI’s) to monitor the facility for collected efficiencies, the optimization of the radiological risks and impact of modifications of the irradiation station, like the yearly integrated luminosity serves as one of the KPI's for LHC. Defined KPI’s cover different aspects in the operation cycle, such as planning in CERN schedule, target irradiations, process duration, radiological risk mitigation, facility downtime, developments and maintenance. MEDICIS KPI’s can help distinguish which of the elements in the operation and in the facility life-cycle thus requires immediate intervention, developments or consolidation.Those deal with the irradiation stations, beam-lines (parallel collections), target and ion sources (reliability), robot handling and infrastructure, or the separation process itself

Production of innovative radionuclides for medical applications at the CERN-MEDICIS facility

Since its commissioning in December 2017, the CERN-MEDICIS facility has been providing non-conventional radionuclides for research in nuclear medicine. Benefitting from decades of experience in the production of radioactive ion beams and in the mass separation process from the ISOLDE facility at CERN, MEDICIS quickly became a worldwide key player in the supply of novel medical isotopes dedicated to research in the fields of cancer imaging, diagnostics, and radiation therapy. After a few years of operation, successful collections have been performed on a large panel of radionuclides such as 128Ba, 149,152,155Tb, 153Sm, 165,167Tm, 169Er, 175Yb, 191Pt, and 225,227Ac. Several milestones have been achieved on the output of the facility, such as the collection of 0.5 GBq of 175Yb, and a total separation efficiency higher than 50% reached for 167Tm in 2020. These collections led to notable recent in-vitro and preclinical results in targeted radionuclide therapy achieved with high molar activity 175Yb and 153Sm products. Constant developments are ongoing, such as innovative target designs, molecular formation to improve the release of some specific isotopes, laser development in the dedicated MELISSA laboratory, study of new implantation foil materials, and post-collection radiochemistry