(1) Background: A well-established Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) facility includes many essential systems, which are the epithermal neutron beam system, on-line monitoring system (OMS), QA/QC (quality assurance or quality control) system, boron concentration (BC) measurement system, and treatment planning system (TPS). Accurate data transmission, monitoring, and deposition among these systems are of vital importance before, during, and after clinical, animal, and cell BNCT irradiation. This work developed a novel integrated platform NeuTHOR Station (NeuTHORS) for BNCT at Tsing Hua Open-pool Reactor (THOR). Apart from the data of the OMS and QA/QC system, the data of BC and TPS can be loaded on NeuTHORS before BNCT clinical, animal, and cell irradiation. (2) Methods: A multi-paradigm computer programming language c# (c sharp) was used to develop the integrated platform NeuTHORS. The design of NeuTHORS is based on the standard procedures of BNCT treatment or experiment at THOR. Moreover, parallel testing with OMS-BNCT (the former OMS) and QA/QC of THOR was also performed for more than 70 times to verify the validation of NeuTHORS. (3) Results: According to the comparisons of the output, NeuTHORS and OMS-BNCT and QA/QC of THOR show very good consistency. NeuTHORS is now installed on an industrial PC (IPC) and successfully performs the monitoring of BNCT Treatment at THOR. Patients’ f BC and TPS data are also input into NeuTHORS and stored on IPC through an internal network from BC measurement room and TPS physicist. Therefore, the treatment data of each patient can be instantaneously established after each BNCT treatment for further study on BNCT. NeuTHORS can also be applied on data acquisition for a BNCT-related study, especially for animal or cell irradiation experiments. (4) Conclusions: A novel integrated platform NeuTHOR Station for monitoring BNCT clinical treatment and animal and cell irradiation study has been successfully established at THOR. With this platform, BNCT radiobiology investigations will be efficiently performed and a thorough data storage and analysis system of BNCT treatments or experiments can thus be systematically built up for the further investigation of BNCT at THOR.

Nuclear fission reactions can release massive amounts of energy accompanied by neutrons and γ photons, which create a mixed radiation field and enable a series of reactions in nuclear reactors. This study demonstrates a one-pot/one-step approach to synthesizing radioactive gold nanoparticles (RGNP) without using radioactive precursors and reducing agents. Trivalent gold ions are reduced into gold nanoparticles (8.6–146 nm), and a particular portion of ¹⁹⁷Au atoms is simultaneously converted to ¹⁹⁸Au atoms, rendering the nanoparticles radioactive. We suggest that harnessing nuclear energy to gold nanoparticles is feasible in the interests of advancing nanotechnology for cancer therapy. A combination of RGNP applied through convection-enhanced delivery (CED) and temozolomide (TMZ) through oral administration demonstrates the synergistic effect in treating glioblastoma-bearing mice. The mean survival for RGNP/TMZ treatment was 68.9 ± 9.7 days compared to that for standalone RGNP (38.4 ± 2.2 days) or TMZ (42.8 ± 2.5 days) therapies. Based on the verification of bioluminescence images, positron emission tomography, and immunohistochemistry inspection, the combination treatment can inhibit the proliferation of glioblastoma, highlighting the niche of concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) attributed to RGNP and TMZ.

Activated corrosion products deposited on the surfaces of fuel rods and pipelines contribute the majority of the radiation level in the primary system piping of a light water reactor and would have a significant impact on the safety of maintenance personnel or those involved in future decommissioning work. A computer model for site-specific applications, by the name of ACP_BWR, was developed to predict the distribution of activated corrosion products in the primary coolant circuit of a boiling water reactor (BWR). The prediction results were in reasonably good agreement with the data taken by periodic and in situ measurements at three locations after permanent shutdown of the BWR. Our analyses indicated that the ⁶⁰Co, ⁵⁴Mn, ⁵⁸Co, and ⁵⁹Fe activities in the core bypass, upper plenum, and lower downcomer regions were higher than those at other regions of the Chinshan Unit 1 reactor. Accordingly, the dose rates resulting from the activated corrosion products deposited at regions close to either side of the core shroud were comparatively high, surpassing those induced by neutron activation at these regions.

The approach of power uprate has been adopted by the utilities of light water reactors over the past few decades in order to increase the power generation efficiency of a nuclear reactor. Upon a power uprate, the power density of a nuclear reactor would change immediately, followed by water chemistry variations due to the enhanced radiolysis of water in the core and near-core regions. For commercial boiling water reactors (BWRs), it is currently a common practice to adopt hydrogen water chemistry (HWC) for corrosion mitigation. The optimal hydrogen injection rate may require a proper adjustment after a power uprate is practiced in a BWR. A DEMACE computer code was used in the current study to investigate the impact of various power uprate levels on major radiolytic species concentrations and the electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP) behavior of components in the primary coolant circuit of a domestic BWR operating under either normal water chemistry or HWC. The results of our analysis indicated that the chemical species concentrations and ECP did not vary monotonically with increases in reactor power level at a fixed feedwater hydrogen concentration. In particular, the upper plenum and upper downcomer regions exhibited uniquely higher ECPs at a 102% power level than at the other evaluated power levels. The impact of power uprate on the water chemistry in the primary coolant circuit of a BWR is expected to vary from location to location and eventually from plant to plant due to different degrees of radiolysis and physical dimensions.