Iran manufactures linac

Tehran, May 4, IRNA - Researchers at the Persian Gulf Biotechnology Park in Qeshm have designed and produced a linear particle accelerator. A linear particle accelerator, often shortened to linac, greatly increases the velocity of charged subatomic subjecting the charged particles to a series of oscillating electric potentials along a linear beam line. Gholamhossein Rahimi, the head of Large-Scale National Plans Center affiliated to Presidential Office’s Department of Science and Technology, said some parts of the device were imported, but indigenization of linac technology will be completed in the not too distant future. Rahimi hailed the experts and scientists of Tabeshgaran Tandorost Company and Persian Gulf Biotechnology Park for their strenuous efforts in designing and preparing the device. These accelerators have many applications: They generate X-rays and high energy electrons for medicinal purposes in radiation therapy, serve as particle injectors for higher-energy accelerators and are used directly to achieve the highest kinetic energy for light particles (electrons and positrons). Linac-based radiation for treating cancer began with the treatment of the first patient in 1953 in London’s Hammersmith Hospital. ثدی