Visit of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš to the NPI
Mon Apr 08 14:31:00 CEST 2019
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš visited the premises of research institutes at Řež on Friday, April 5, 2019. At the Nuclear Physics Institute of the CAS (NPI), he looked at a new laboratory of the cyclotron TR-24. He has been acquainted with TR-24 use in energy research and investigation of new prospective radiopharmaceuticals.
At the cyclotron TR-24, currently the most powerful fast-neutron source simulating the ITER field has been developed. It enables to test diagnostic components for advanced nuclear energy technologies in which the intensive fast-neutron fluxes are generated both in fusion and fission concepts.
Prime Minister Andrej Babiš listens to the explanation of the head of the Department of Accelerators Jan Štursa.
Radionuclides produced at the TR-24 can be used for cancer diagnostics and also for cancer therapy. Currently, production of germanium-68, a parent of gallium-68 for sensitive and specific prostate cancer diagnosis by the PSMA molecule, is studied. Analogous molecule labelled with actinium-225 is a promising therapeutic for patients in terminal stadium of this highly incident disease.
The Prime Minister, accompanied by the Vice-Chairs of the Research, Development and Innovation Council, Assoc. Prof. Karel Havlíček and Dr. Pavel Baran, looked at the cyclotron TR-24 and new radiochemical laboratories for radiopharmaceuticals research.
Headline photo (from the left): head of the Department of Radiopharmaceuticals Ondřej Lebeda, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Vice-Chair of the Research, Development and Innovation Council Karel Havlíček, and NPI director Petr Lukáš.