Physics Bucharest 2017

Neutrons w R

• Changing the neutron energy, the accelerated products and how they induce the biological damage change • The balance between these two factors (particle spectrum and LET) is the origin of the effectiveness variation of neutrons (E)

• 1 MeV neutrons mainly accelerate protons which deposits energy close to their max LET • Contribute of heavier nuclei accelerated by neutrons increases with energy with a maximum around 20 MeV