Cyclone-30, India’s biggest cyclotron facility becomes operational

India’s biggest cyclotron facility “Cyclone-30” has become operational at the Kolkata-based Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for treatment of cancer. The facility produces a 30MeV beam that will be used to produce radioisotopes for medical imaging & diagnosis. The Cyclone-30 is in the first phase of production generating Flouro Deocyglucose (FDG), a radioisotope used for date imaging and oncological tissue imaging. It will be the first and only facility in the country to produce Germanium 68 isotopes, which is used in the diagnosis of breast cancer. Simultaneously, it will also produce Palladium 103 isotopes, which is used for the treatment of prostate cancer. The machine has a capacity of catering to 60 to 90 patients in a day. In its future stages, the machine will also work on the production of Iodine 123 isotopes, which can help detect thyroid cancer. The machine can also be used for research in the fields of material science and nuclear physics.