Investigation of Isfahan miniature neutron source reactor (MNSR) for boron neutron capture therapy by MCNP simulation

One of the important neutron sources for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a nuclear reactor. It needs a high flux of epithermal neutrons. The optimum conditions of the neutron spectra for BNCT are provided by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). In this paper، Miniature Neutron Source Reactor (MNSR) as a neutron source for BNCT was investigated. For this purpose، we designed a Beam Shaping Assembly (BSA) for the reactor and the neutron transport from the core of the reactor to the output windows of BSA was simulated by MCNPX code. To optimize the BSA performance، two sets of parameters should be evaluated، in-air and in-phantom parameters. For evaluating in-phantom parameters، a Snyder head phantom was used and biological dose rate and dose-depth curve were calculated in brain normal and tumor tissues. Our calculations showed that the neutron flux of the MNSR reactor can be used for BNCT، and the designed BSA in optimum conditions had a good therapeutic characteristic for BNCT.