FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:             NIST 94-32
Aug. 12, 1994

Contact:  Linda Joy                NEW NIST MEDICAL-INDUSTRIAL
          (301) 975-4403           RADIATION FACILITY WILL HELP
                                   DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGIES,
                                   ESTABLISH STANDARDS

     A new facility at the National Institute of Standards and
Technology is now available to ensure accurate radiation
measurements in medicine and serve as a new technology testbed
for industry.

     The NIST Medical-Industrial Radiation Facility, or MIRF, is
a national user facility for the medical and industrial radiation
communities.  The new facility contains a high-energy electron
beam linear accelerator donated by the Radiation Therapy Center
of Yale University-New Haven Hospital.

     The range of electron energies available from the
accelerator make the MIRF a unique facility, ideally suited for
medical radiation calibration research and industrial radiation
technology development.

     "We want to help the medical community to verify the
measurements they're making on the same type of machine," says
Bert M. Coursey, leader of the NIST Radiation Interactions and
Dosimetry Group.

     "In a similar manner, we can assist industry in developing
radiation technologies, such as polymer curing and waste water
treatment," Coursey says.  "We are the only federal laboratory
where industry can come to develop these technologies using the
appropriate accelerator."

     The MIRF's primary medical application will be direct
calibration standards for accelerator electron beams used in
ionizing radiation treatments for cancer patients.  Because
NIST's previous calibration standards were based on a low single
energy cobalt-60 gamma ray source, calibrations for higher energy
beams used in therapy were indirect.

     The MIRF accelerator can produce electron energies from 7
million to 32 million electron volts.  With a wider range of
higher energies, the MIRF makes direct comparison of beam
energies possible and eliminates the problem of uncertainties
that occur with indirect calibrations.  The result is that
radiation therapy centers will be able to measure photon and
electron beam energies more accurately and ensure the prescribed
radiation dose.

     NIST scientists also are planning research projects which
could improve industrial processes such as polymer curing and
waste water treatment.

     Lightweight composite materials developed for the aerospace
industry are increasingly used in new consumer products, although
curing these high performance composites usually requires a time-
consuming, heat-curing step.  Curing polymers with high-energy
electron beams offers an alternative which could save time and
money and improve quality.  An experimental program at MIRF will
help industry develop new methods for curing polymer-fiber
composites with electron beam technology.

     High-energy electron radiation also may be a new method for
purifying wastewater by converting toxic chemicals to benign
products and destroying disease-causing microorganisms. 
Additional research projects at the MIRF will attempt to develop
new technologies for destroying hazardous organic pollutants in
wastewater.  Other candidate chemicals include explosives and
chemical warfare agents.

     In addition to medical and industrial radiation projects,
the MIRF will be available to academic researchers.  Physicists
and students from Catholic University and George Washington
University are setting up a beam line at MIRF to explore
applications of a new kind of radiation called "channeling
radiation."  According to B.L. Berman of George Washington
University, "Channeling radiation is produced in a crystalline
material when an electron beam from the accelerator passes
through it along one of the preferred directions in the
crystalline lattice."

     For more information on the MIRF, contact the NIST Radiation
Interactions and Dosimetry Group, Radiation Physics Building,
Room C229, Gaithersburg, MD  20899-0001; phone: (301) 975-5575;
fax: (301) 869-7682.

     As a non-regulatory agency of the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, NIST promotes U.S. economic growth by
working with industry to develop and apply technology,
measurements and standards.

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