A University of Windsor researcher believes a prototype neutron facility would anchor a new industry in the city, after receiving almost $2-million in funding to design it.
The facility would produce medical isotopes for cancer treatment.
Dr Drew Marquardt has spent years advocating for a compact accelerator-based neutron source in Windsor. The facility would produce neutron beams using a particle accelerator instead of a nuclear reactor. It would also produce medical isotopes for PET scanners used in cancer diagnosis and therapy.
"Building this facility would anchor a new industry in Windsor, create high-skill, high-paying jobs, and deliver a level of healthcare infrastructure the region has never had," said Marquardt, who is the president of the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering. "It has the potential to bring a unique hospital-based cancer therapy that has been successful in Japan."
He said it would be the first facility of its kind in Canada, possibly North America.
It would be part of a multi-institutional effort led by McMaster University. Right now, the only facility in Canada that provides access to neutron beams is the Neutron and Positron Beam Laboratory at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor.
"Ideally, we would be building a full neutron facility with a particle accelerator that will produce neutrons and medical isotopes," added Marquardt.
He estimates the prototype facility in Windsor would cost about $50-million to build.
