# Applications of GANIL Research Activities and Techniques

Fanny Farget, Patricia Roussel-Chomaz, François Chevalier, Eloïse Dessay, Diane Doré, Jean-Eric Ducret, Gilles de France, Anne-Marie Frelin, Clara Grygiel, Stéphane Guillous, et al.

► To cite this version:

Fanny Farget, Patricia Roussel-Chomaz, François Chevalier, Eloïse Dessay, Diane Doré, et al. Applications of GANIL Research Activities and Techniques. Nuclear Science and Technology Open Research, 2024, 2, pp.79. 10.12688/nuclscitechnolopenres.17612.1. hal-05387290

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# Applications of GANIL Research Activities and Techniques

[version 1; peer review: 2 approved with reservations]

Fanny FARGET<sup>ID 1</sup>, Patricia Roussel-Chomaz<sup>1</sup>, François Chevalier<sup>ID 2</sup>, Eloïse Dessay<sup>1</sup>, Diane Doré<sup>3</sup>, Jean-Eric Ducret<sup>ID 1</sup>, Gilles De France<sup>1</sup>, Anne-Marie Frelin<sup>1</sup>, Clara Grygiel<sup>ID 2</sup>, Stéphane Guillous<sup>2</sup>, Xavier Ledoux<sup>ID 1</sup>, Antoine Lemasson<sup>1</sup>, Diego Ramos<sup>ID 1</sup>

**v1** First published: 12 Dec 2024, 2:79
https://doi.org/10.12688/nuclscitechnolopenres.17612.1

Latest published: 12 Dec 2024, 2:79
https://doi.org/10.12688/nuclscitechnolopenres.17612.1

## Abstract

Since the first ⁴⁰Ar beam accelerated 40 years ago at an energy of 44 MeV per nucleon, GANIL has undergone continuous evolution, with some major upgrades, to remain at the forefront of research in accelerator-based science. Because basic science in nuclear physics is closely linked to nuclear industry needs, GANIL can make significant contributions in the knowledge required for improving precision of nuclear data of interest for energy or health applications, as well as in the field of sustainable development.

New facility NFS for neutron beams allows high accuracy nuclear data in neutron-induced reactions. Accelerated actinide beams like ²³⁸U or ²³²Th allow new-generation nuclear data in the field of nuclear fission.

Heavy-ion beams allow the study of radiation in living organisms as part of the development of new cancer therapy techniques as well as space journeys. The instrumentation developed by GANIL offers modern dosimetry techniques for hadrontherapy. Finally, the irradiation of matter enables the investigation of new materials and more resistant electronic components for nuclear and space industries. Some of these developments are done in collaboration with local or national industries to develop the skills and innovation to meet future challenges.

## Open Peer Review

Approval Status ? ?

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1. Nobuyuki Kanematsu<sup>ID</sup>, Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Inage-ku, Japan

2. Felix Horst<sup>ID</sup>, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany

Any reports and responses or comments on the article can be found at the end of the article.

<footnote n="1">¹Grand Accelerateur National d'Ions Lourds, Caen, Normandy, France</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²CIMAP, Université de Caen Normandie, CEA/DRF, CNRS/INP, ENSICAEN, Caen, France</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³IRFU, IRFU/SPhN, CEA/DRF, Gif-sur-Yvette Cedex, 91191, France</footnote>
**Keywords**

Ion-beams, heavy-ion beams, cyclotrons, linear accelerators, radiobiology, radio-isotopes, dosimetry, nuclear data, nuclear reaction, nuclear fission, nuclear energy, space electronics, quantum technologies

This article is included in the **Research from International Topical Meetings on Nuclear Applications of Accelerators (AccelApp) collection.**

<figure><img src="image_3.png" /></figure>

**Corresponding author:** Fanny FARGET (fanny.farget@ganil.fr)

**Author roles:** **FARGET F:** Conceptualization, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing; **Roussel-Chomaz P:** Conceptualization, Writing – Review & Editing; **Chevalier F:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Dessay E:** Methodology, Writing – Review & Editing; **Doré D:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Ducret JE:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **De France G:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Frelin AM:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Grygiel C:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Guillous S:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration; **Ledoux X:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Lemasson A:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing; **Ramos D:** Investigation, Methodology, Project Administration, Writing – Review & Editing

**Competing interests:** No competing interests were disclosed.

**Grant information:** This work was supported by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique; Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies Alternatives

*The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.*

**Copyright:** © 2024 FARGET F et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

**How to cite this article:** FARGET F, Roussel-Chomaz P, Chevalier F et al. **Applications of GANIL Research Activities and Techniques**
**[version 1; peer review: 2 approved with reservations]** Nuclear Science and Technology Open Research 2024, **2**:79
https://doi.org/10.12688/nuclscitechnolopenres.17612.1

**First published:** 12 Dec 2024, **2**:79 https://doi.org/10.12688/nuclscitechnolopenres.17612.1
## Short description of GANIL facility

GANIL is operated by 240 permanent staff members, half employed by CNRS [1] and half by CEA [2]. Among them, 28 were researchers who, beyond their own research, had a mission to host and bring their expertise to external users for their experiments. GANIL staff is complemented by more than 70 additional fixed term staff, including about 20 PhD students and 20 post-doctoral fellows. The technical staff to operate the accelerator facility and the surrounding infrastructure are about 200 members, and an additional 30 or so are administrative (financial, human resources, safety).

In the GANIL campus is hosted a second laboratory, the Centre for Ion Materials and Photonics, CIMAP, which hosts the CIRIL platform<fnref n="1" /> that integrates instrumentation in GANIL experimental areas for the interdisciplinary research with ion beams. This corresponds to about 33 additional permanent staff (including 22 researchers), eight additional PhD students, and three post-doctoral fellows.

CIRIL and GANIL host experiments were selected through a yearly program advisory committee, one for nuclear physics (PAC) and one for interdisciplinary research (iPAC). GANIL delegated the hosting of interdisciplinary experiments to the CIMAP.

The number of GANIL users is approximately a thousand; among them, one-third are from French Universities and Laboratories, one-third are from European Universities and laboratories, and the last third are international. Between 200 and 400 visit GANIL to perform experiments every year. More than 85 PhD work is currently based on data taken at GANIL.

Scientific field developed in GANIL is very broad, including nuclear physics and astrophysics, astrochemistry, material irradiation, nanostructuration, radiobiology, industrial applications, and research and development in instrumentation and accelerator techniques.

This broad range of activities has been developing with the evolution of GANIL, which has been improving its facilities for four decades. Originally, the facility counted two ion sources associated with two injector cyclotrons, which could inject beams to the first cyclotron with separated sectors (CSS). The beam exiting the first CSS to an energy above the Coulomb barrier (typically 5 MeV per nucleon) could then be injected in a second CSS after increasing the ionic charge through a thin carbon foil to reach an energy of 95 MeV/u for the lightest ions (carbon) and 27 MeV/u for the heaviest (uranium).

In 1989, the first parallel beamline was created after stripping the carbon foil between the two CSS, taking advantage of the ionic charge state distribution of the beam behind the stripping foil. While the mostly produced ionic charge state was sent to the second CSS, a second ionic charge state of the beam was selected and sent to a dedicated experimental area (D1). As a result, two experiments can be run in parallel, one at high energy after the two CSS accelerations, and a second with medium energy, after the first CSS acceleration.<fnref n="1" /> Parallel medium energy is used by the interdisciplinary research community hosted by the CIRIL.

In 2001, the first major upgrade of the facility took place, with the construction of a fifth cyclotron for the acceleration of radioactive ion beams, produced by the interaction of the high-energy heavy-ion beam in a thick target after re-ionization in an ECR source. This facility, SPIRAL1,<fnref n="2" /> allows the acceleration of exotic species up to 25 MeV per nucleon with the compact cyclotron CIME (K=265) and sent to the GANIL experimental areas for nuclear physics experiments. This facility is the subject of continuous improvement, and a recent upgrade has significantly improved the range of accelerated species with more than 50 new isotopes or isomers.³,⁴ SPIRAL1 is also equipped with a low-energy beam line out of the ECR ion source to conduct experiments with low-energy exotic beams, particularly in the field of nuclear decay and the study of fundamental interactions and fundamental properties of exotic nuclei.

A few years later, in 2002, a new parallel beam was created with the IRRSUD beam line, taking advantage of the two injection cyclotrons: while one is under operation for sending the beam to the CSS, the second injector cyclotron can be used to send stable beams to an irradiation station, with an energy of typically 1 MeV per nucleon.

In another experimental hall on the GANIL campus, in 1999, a very low energy facility with multiply charged ions delivered by ECR sources, the LIMBE facility, was developed with two experimental end stations.⁵ The possibilities

<footnote n="1">¹Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, https://www.cnrs.fr</footnote>

<footnote n="2">²Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, https://www.cea.fr</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_4.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 1.** Linear Energy Transfer of the stable ions accelerated at GANIL as a function of their energy. Within the different experimental halls: ARIBE, IRRSUD, and acceleration after one or two CSS, five orders of magnitude in the energy range is accessible.</figcaption></figure>

were then extended to five beam lines by the transfer of the AIM facility from Grenoble to Caen. This new facility, named the ARIBE, was launched in 2005.⁶

GANIL is famous for its exceptionally broad range of ion-beam energy and ion-beam species: more than five orders of magnitude in the energy range, with ion beams ranging from carbon to uranium, as depicted in Figure 1, including around 50 radioactive ions, some of the most intense in the world.

This permanent upgrade through the years of the cyclotron complex has been followed by a new-generation upgrade with the construction of a linear and supraconducting accelerator for the SPIRAL2 project.⁷ The phase one of SPIRAL2 is currently in the final stage of completion. The linear accelerator has been delivering protons and deuterium beams since 2019, and is now preparing for the acceleration of heavy-ions. Oxygen and Ar beams have been accelerated in 2022 and 2023, in preparation for the scientific program with the S³ super spectrometer separator,⁸ for which the new injector NEWGAIN of the linear accelerator is under construction, in order to achieve unprecedented yields of heavy-ion beams for research on super-heavy elements and exotic nuclei with S³. Proton and deuteron beams accelerated up to 40 MeV by the LINAC of SPIRAL2 are used to produce high-energy neutron beams, to be sent in a long experimental hall of 40 m, with a complementary intensity and energy range that is very competitive with respect to other neutron beam installations.⁹,¹⁰ Experiments on fission, neutron-induced reactions, and material irradiation are ongoing since 2021. In 2027, the new experimental hall DESIR for low-energy nuclear physics experiments will enter its exploitation phase, receiving exotic ions from the cyclotrons and SPIRAL1 facility, as well as exotic ion beams produced, separated, and identified with S³.

This particularly rich ensemble of ion and neutron beams offers a large variety of possibilities for research in nuclear physics, nuclear astrophysics, and in a very broad scientific subject such as astrochemistry, and material science, some of which are highlighted in the following, as well as more applied science topics such as nuclear data, space applications, material under irradiation and nanostructuration, radiobiology, and innovative techniques for dosimetry for the treatment of certain cancers.

## Nuclear data

Nuclear data is an applied domain of nuclear basic science, where nuclear reaction or nuclear state properties (cross sections, angular distribution, kinematics, excited states...) are measured with the objective to improve the simulation codes based for the conception of different applications of nuclear science, like nuclear energy production, single event effects in microelectronics, medical diagnostics and treatment, and the production of radio-elements. These applications rely on transport codes that are based on evaluated nuclear data libraries, which are a combination of experimental data and nuclear models estimations. To improve the reliability of nuclear models, high quality and extensive data is needed. In particular, For reactions such as neutron-induced fission, (n, γ), (n, xn), and neutron-induced light-charged particle production, for neutron energies above 14 MeV, there is a lack of high-quality nuclear data that affects the quality of the available nuclear data libraries. The new neutron beam line NFS of GANIL, in operation since 2021, offers unique experimental condition with a neutron flux up to two rods of magnitude higher than existing facilities in the energy range between 1 to 40 MeV.
For cases in which targets are difficult to fabricate, heavy-ion beams of GANIL can be used to study neutron-induced reactions via surrogate reactions. In addition, the experimental environment of GANIL, with state-of-the-art spectrometers such as VAMOS,¹¹ allows for new types of reaction characteristics, such as kinematic properties, in coincidence with the isotopic distribution of fragments.

## NFS

The NFS facility is built with two rooms: a converter cave, where ion beams from the LINAC impinge either a converter for neutron production, or materials placed in a dedicated irradiation box for irradiation studies or for radio-isotope production.

Different neutron production modes are possible, depending on the accelerated ions.

The NFS facility is built with two distinct rooms. The first one is the converter hall for neutron production from proton or deuteron beams. This hall includes an irradiation box for activation measurements. The second, placed behind a thick collimator is the experimental hall where the neutrons produced in the converter hall have possible fly-path from 5 to 30 m away from the converter point. Short fly-path are associated with high-intensity experiments, and long fly-path with high-precision experiments.

The neutron spectrum characteristics depend on the production mode chosen, based on deuteron break-up reaction or proton-induced reaction on a Li target.

The deuteron break-up reactions are produced on a thick full-stopping converter made of beryllium. They generate neutrons with a continuous energy distribution extending up to a maximum energy of 40 MeV, with an average value of approximately 14 MeV.⁹,¹⁰

The proton-induced reaction on Li is the $^7\text{Li}(p,n)^7\text{Be}$ reaction, which is used to produce a quasi-monoenergetic neutron spectrum with a peak energy slightly below the incoming proton energy. The Li target is not thick enough to stop the entire intensity of the primary beam. A clearing magnet downstream of the Li target is thus used to sweep away the non-interacting proton beam in the thin Li target.

The NFS facility offers remarkable experimental possibilities. In particular a very low gamma-flash is observed, and the average neutron flux is very competitive compared to other time-of-flight facilities lke n-TOF at CERN, WNR at Los Alamos.

The use of NFS for research in basic nuclear physics is emerging, with the investigation of the Pygmy dipole resonance population with the (n,n'γ) reaction,¹² or the study of the structure of exotic nuclei using the (n,3n) reaction.¹³ A future study on the nuclear structure of exotic nuclei produced in neutron-induced fission is underway.

Nonetheless, most of the experiments carried out have been dedicated to the improvement of nuclear data in neutron-induced reactions:

- The production of light ion production with MEDLEY detector,¹⁴

- Production of gas induced by neutron irradiation in materials surrounding the nuclear reactor core, such as Chromium, or Iron¹⁴

- Production of He gas in the cooling water of reactors via the $^{16}\text{O}(n,\alpha)^{13}\text{C}$ cross-section measurement with the SCALP detector¹⁵

- Precise measurement of (n,xnγ) reactions was performed using a GRAPHEME gamma-ray spectrometer.¹⁶

In the field of neutron-induced fission reactions, a campaign is foreseen for the measurement of prompt neutron and gamma ray emissions. The new SCONE detector collaboration aims to precisely measure complete neutron distributions and correlations, gamma-ray total energy, and multiplicity distributions.¹⁷

A new spectrometer, FALSTAFF,¹⁸ is under construction to study the properties of fission fragments in neutron-induced fission from actinides in the neutron energy range from hundreds of keV to a few MeV. When complete, the spectrometer
<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 2.** Energy distribution of the fission fragments of <sup>235</sup>U for neutron energy ranging from 2 MeV to 35 MeV, with energy bins of 1 MeV. In red are the experimental points, and in blue the expected yields from simulation (GEANT4 and GEF codes). Spectra are normalized to the integral*100.</figcaption></figure>

allows the detection of the two fission fragments in coincidence and measures their kinetic energies, initial masses (before neutron evaporation), and final masses, thus providing access to the neutron multiplicity. The first campaign was run in 2022 with a <sup>235</sup>U target and only one arm of the spectrometer, limiting detection to only one of the two fission fragments. Figure 2 shows the evolution of the measured kinetic energy of the fragments as a function of the incident neutron energy, with an energy bin size of 1 MeV.

The first experiment demonstrated the excellent response of the dedicated spectrometer. While the second arm is under construction, a new campaign with <sup>237</sup>Np target is under preparation for realization in the autumn of 2024.

Other targets, such as <sup>238</sup>U, <sup>239</sup>Pu, <sup>232</sup>Th, and <sup>233</sup>U, have been studied using FALSTAFF at the NFS facility.

## VAMOS

When considering nuclear data, a particularly difficult issue can be target production, particularly if it is made of isotopically selected material or highly radioactive material.

A solution can be found in the use of surrogate reactions: producing the same compound nucleus as in a neutron-induced reaction but using ion beams and nucleon transfer. This method was successfully used in the seventies,¹⁹ in the years 2000.²⁰ Since 2010, this method has been used in GANIL, adding the particularity of inverse kinematic experiments.²¹⁻²⁵

A <sup>238</sup>U beam bombards a <sup>12</sup>C target at an energy close to that of the Coulomb barrier. In addition to <sup>238</sup>U beam, various nucleon-transfer channels (including inelastic scattering) lead to the formation of excited actinides heavier than uranium, such as <sup>238</sup>U, <sup>239</sup>Np, <sup>240</sup>Pu, <sup>244</sup>Cm, and <sup>250</sup>Cf, which are produced at average excitation energies of 7.4, 7.5, 10.7, 23, and 46 MeV, respectively, over the range of several MeV.²⁶ Because fission is the main de-excitation channel in this mass region, one of the fission fragments may be identified in atomic and mass numbers, together with its velocity properties, using a VAMOS spectrometer and its focal-plane instrumentation.

The different transfer channels are identified by a particle detector located at the target station, which has recently received an important upgrade, significantly increasing the transfer channel identification resolution, as well as the excitation energy resolution. The experiment provides access to the complete isotopic distributions of fission for each of the
<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 3.** Isotopic distribution of the fission fragments of <sup>240</sup>Pu produced at the average excitation energy of 10.7 MeV.<sup>21</sup></figcaption></figure>

fissioning systems, as shown in Figure 3 for the case of <sup>240</sup>Pu, produced at an average excitation energy of 10.4 MeV. In addition, isotopic identification can be studied as a function of the excitation energy.

A second detection arm has been recently installed, enabling the energy and time-of-flight measurement of the second fission fragment for a better determination of the fission process. In 2024, the new <sup>232</sup>Th beam from GANIL allowed the production of additional fissioning systems to be studied.

These data are highly relevant for the improvement of fission process models and simulation of nuclear reactors.<sup>27</sup>

## Radiobiology

### Platform for Irradiations for Radiobiology with Accelerated Ions (IRIA)

The IRIA platform has been open to the international scientific community since the construction of a radiobiology laboratory (LARIA) in 2003, which has increased interest in the radiobiological community by providing the possibility to prepare and analyze cells immediately after irradiation (close to the irradiation site). It is dedicated to the irradiation of biological models with accelerated fast heavy ions (> 10 MeV per nucleon), ranging from carbon to uranium. The most utilized ion beam is <sup>12</sup>C at 95MeV per nucleon for approximately 200 h a year. CIMAP teams support researchers in drawing up protocols, preparing biological models, carrying out irradiation, and analyzing irradiated samples.<sup>28</sup> Experiments carried out at the facility had a variety of objectives. They range from predicting the biological effects of accelerated ions in the context of cancer therapy to describing the effects of space radiation on astronauts.<sup>29</sup> In particular, a dedicated setup allows for the investigation of the combined effects of radiation on stressed cells under altered gravity.<sup>30</sup>

Recent investigations performed on this platform concern fundamental research on the issue of cell radio-resistance, in particular the effect of hypoxia in cancer cells, or the radio-resistance of specific cancer stem cell subpopulations.<sup>31</sup> On the other hand, studies are performed to improve the radio-sensitization of cancer cells, with metallic nanoparticles or DNA repair inhibitors.<sup>32</sup>

Flash therapy, which induces ultra-high dose rates in a limited time, has also been investigated to reduce the side effects on healthy tissues. Finally, original in vitro models, such as organoids, have been developed.

To gain a better understanding of the effects of ionizing radiation in the context of hadrontherapy, numerous gas-phase studies are being carried out using molecules of biological interest in the ARIBE and IRRSUD lines. A new device, IMAGERI, for measuring the effective section of electron emissions could also be used in this context to estimate the increase in dose around metallic nanoparticles.

## Dosimetry for hadrontherapy

In proton therapy, the treatment of tumors smaller than 3 cm in diameter is limited by the uncertainties of the treatment planning system and the spatial resolution of the control detectors. Moreover, with the pencil beam scanning technique,
the treatment plan is structured as a sum of pencil beams, each delivered in several fractions of variable intensity, called
pulses. This division into pulses makes it difficult to verify the agreement between the planned and delivered pencil-beam
characteristics during treatment quality control. To address these constraints, GANIL developed a dosimeter with high
spatial and temporal resolution³³ to control treatment plans.

This dosimeter is based on a cubic plastic scintillator of 10 × 10 × 10 cm³ and a fast camera capable of reaching 1 kHz (the beam delivery frequency from cyclotron of CYCLHAD³⁴). The setup can record each delivered pulse and reconstruct the pencil-beam characteristics (energy, position, and intensity). An algorithm is being developed to reconstruct the dose distribution from the dosimeter images. By projecting both views of the cube in a 3D space, the algorithm reconstructs the scintillation map before converting it into a dose distribution. The conversion into a dose distribution, which requires the implementation of optical and scintillation quenching corrections, is still under progress.

System performance was assessed with customized irradiations at different intensities: 0.02 to 1 Monitor Units (MU) per
pencil beam and with clinical treatment plans. They showed standard deviations of less than 400 µm in the measured X
and Y positions, and approximately 180 keV in the measured energy.

Production of innovative radio-isotopes for targeted alpha-therapy

The use of radionuclides in diagnostic imaging, such as single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET), is well-established in nuclear medicine. However, their application in therapy, specifically targeted radiotherapy (TRT), remains less developed. Within the theranostic approach, “targeted therapy”— and particularly vectorized internal radiotherapy (VIR)—is a cancer treatment method that focuses on targeting receptors located on tumor cells or within their surrounding environment.

Targeted therapies enable the delivery of radiation directly to diseased sites, potentially reducing toxicity to healthy
tissues compared to conventional irradiation. In the vicinity of cancer cells, the effectiveness of treatment depends on the
unique properties of the radioactive decay. This is why different radiation types with varying energy deposition ranges
and associated Linear Energy Transfers (LET) are necessary to treat the disease effectively.

TRT has already shown enhanced overall response rates, survival benefits, and a better safety profile compared to
standard treatments, such as chemotherapy.³⁵⁻³⁷ New applications are emerging that involve novel vectors, such as
antibodies, peptides, and folates, which target common cancers like prostate cancer and melanoma. These advancements
pave the way for combining new vectors with radionuclides that have optimized decay properties from the early stages of
treatment development.

²¹¹At is considered a promising candidate for such applications owing to its adequate half-life of 7.2 hours and unique alpha decay transition. Currently, an efficient way to produce this radioisotope is by the reaction ²⁰⁹Bi (⁴He, 2n)²¹¹At.

GANIL has been developing an irradiation station for the production of ²¹¹At Ref. 38 from solid, rotating, bismuth targets, with the aim of producing a significant amount of ²¹¹At with high-intensity beams (10 kW) from the linear accelerator of SPIRAL2.

The project shall pursue with, in collaboration with ARRONAX,³⁹ CERMN, CYCERON, and Baclesse, the extraction of ²¹¹At from the irradiated target by radiochemistry, its introduction into radiopharmaceuticals, and the characterization of the response of tumour cells to treatments.

In 2022, the measurement of the cross section of ²¹¹At and its contaminants for different He beam energies at the SPIRAL2 LINAC led to the determination of the optimal beam energy. The first irradiation tests were conducted in September 2023 at the irradiation station of the NFS facility, which demonstrated the proper operation of the target station. Further dedicated beam time will be delivered in autumn 2024.

If a proof of principle for the production of ²¹¹At can be demonstrated using these operating conditions, it will represent a
new source of alpha-emitting isotopes for the different research fields of the TRT (radiochemistry, radiolabeling,
radiobiology). More important and practical production will require the construction of a dedicated irradiation room,
which is currently under consideration.

Dosimetry for in-vitro alpha-therapy experiments

To integrate biological effects in the planning and evaluation of targeted alpha therapy in cancer treatment, in vitro experiments are necessary. In these experiments, the dose delivered to the cultured cells is of utmost importance.
In the framework of this PhD thesis,⁴⁰ an in vitro dosimetry system was developed for use in a cell culture incubator. It is based on silicon semiconductor detectors recording the energy spectra of alpha particles emitted within the culture wells and passing through the cell layer. A new spectral deconvolution method of the recorded energy spectra was developed to reconstruct the spatial and temporal distributions of radionuclides during alpha particle exposure. This method relies on a database made of pre-computed GEANT4 simulations and is sufficiently fast to allow online dosimetry of the assays.

A validation conducted on $^{212}$Pb and $^{223}$Ra through in vitro irradiation simulations revealed dose errors stemming from uncertainties in the computed spatial distribution, with errors remaining within a 3% margin. Preliminary experiments using the new experimental system and algorithm, applied to $^{212}$Pb and $^{223}$Ra, indicated that radionuclide spatial distribution is highly sensitive to experimental conditions. The study also highlighted that radionuclides with complex decay chains, such as $^{223}$Ra (and potentially $^{225}$Ac, though not tested here), can exhibit significantly different spatial and temporal distributions, impacting dose calculations. These findings underscore the importance of assessing radionuclide spatial distribution to prevent substantial misestimations in dose and biological effects, thereby enhancing the accuracy of conclusions derived from in vitro TRT assays.

## Space applications

All satellites and spacecrafts use electronic components and systems. These systems must be reliable and operate over mission durations exceeding a decade. The space radiation environment is one of the main sources of degradation in these electronic systems, which can lead to the failure of space missions.

To assess the sensitivity and radiation resistance of electronic components and guarantee mission reliability, it is necessary to conduct tests in laboratories using ion beams that emulate this space environment.

These tests are conducted during the satellite manufacturing and production phases, as they enable the selection of electronic components that can withstand the aggressive radiative environment of space. In GANIL, they take place in two different beam lines, one using high-energy heavy ion beams, which have a high LET quite unique in Europe and offer the possibility of irradiation in air, and the second with moderate energy, with irradiation in vacuum.

The use of Commercial Off-the-shelf (COTS) components and the emergence of the New SPACE have led to a sharp increase in the need for electronic system tests. For example, in 2022, approximately 200 h of beam time was dedicated to the request of the beam by space industries. In 2024, even though more than 400 h were scheduled, only 40% of the requests could be satisfied.

Considering that this strong demand is going to be amplified in the next years in the context of the “New space” development, GANIL is planning to improve the hosting of space industrial tests with a new organization, an upgrade of the existing experimental set-ups and an increase of beam-lines suited to perform such tests, including a possible new beam-line at the exit of the CIME cyclotron and, eventually, doubling the existing line at high-energy.

In addition, the converter room of the NFS facility is considered for testing electronics subject to high neutron fluxes.

## Material Science

If nuclear energy is considered to be a powerful decarbonated energy with strong environmental benefits, one of its challenges is the long-term storage of the resulting radioactive waste. In the electronuclear industry, polymers are encountered at various stages of fuel processing such as fuel rod fabrication and spent fuel reprocessing. These materials are used either for surfaces (PVC) or operator protection (glove box shielding and gloves), in primary cycle purification (ion exchange resins), as sealants or joints, or for contaminated fluid disposal. During their use, polymers are contaminated with actinides, some of which are alpha emitters. As such, they are bound to be geologically disposed as long-lived intermediate-level waste (LLI-LW).

Synthetic polymers are macromolecules made of long chains constituted by the repetition of a given unit (or multiple units). Under ionizing radiation, such as alpha irradiation, polymers are subjected to radiolysis: bonds forming the material are broken through the formation of radicals, eventually leading to gas emission and macromolecular defects that are new groups formed in the polymer backbone. The prevalent gases emitted under irradiation are H₂, HCl, chlorinated gases, and fluorinated gases, depending on the polymer composition (chemical structure and additives). These are hazardous for waste storage (explosion or metal container corrosion), and thus determine the lifetime of the confinement as well as the safety conditions of storage. As for macromolecular defects, some of them are oxidized and may content chemical groups with complexing characteristics for some actinides, increasing radionuclide solubility and subsequent migration in the storage environment; after the three barriers destruction
<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>**Figure 4.** Comparison of energy deposition from an alpha particle from radioactive decay (top) and an energetic Ar beam of GANIL (bottom). Transverse views (left) and longitudinal views (right).</figcaption></figure>

For these important reasons, the long-term and high-dose effects of radiation on polymers have been studied at GANIL, taking advantage of the high LET of the high-energy heavy-ion beams of cyclotrons for a deeper penetration in the studied samples, compared to other facilities, and a very good reproduction of the alpha-irradiation conditions, as shown in Figure 4.

Two main types of defects are studied:

1) Gas emission from radiolysis using on-line Mass Spectroscopy and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy,⁴¹ as well as ex situ spectroscopy after irradiation⁴²

2) Macromolecular defects using both on-line FTIR and various ex-situ characterisations.

In addition to the study of polymer ageing under high doses, new confinement materials (geopolymers and new cement compoundings) were also studied using an appropriate set of irradiation conditions (ion and energy) to simulate the effects of actinide-emitted alpha particles under storage conditions.

Beyond the topic of materials for nuclear energy, the irradiation of materials is also a great field for innovation and applications such as the search for new materials for sustainable energy (battery for solar energy storage, CO2 conversion, H2 formation from water, etc.⁴³) using defect engineering or nanostructuration due to normal or grazing incidence angle irradiation, or for the testing of new materials or devices for radiation hard electronics.⁴⁴ Along with Ion Track technology, applied on polymers new membranes with selective applications in filtration or as sensors have been created.⁴⁵

## PELIICAEN

An additional platform is available in CIMAP. The PELIICAEN platform⁴⁶ produces single- and multicharged focused ion beams of submicron sizes. This platform, equipped with an Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) ion source, enables 3D structuring of thin films of materials on a nanometric scale.

Owing to its intense ion flux (on the order of $10^{17}$ ions/cm²/s) and its pulse generator enabling repetition rates on the order of a MHz, the focused beams produced by the PELIICAEN platform permit multi-analysis with multi-charged ions (MC-IBIC, MC-TOF-SIMS, MC-LEIS/MEIS) coupled with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), and localized ion implantations. For this application, the presence of multiple detectors correlated with time makes the ion implantation deterministic.
The fields of application of this platform span from materials for quantum technologies (quantum computing, cryptography, data storage, and microelectronics for the future as spintronics and quantronics) to materials for energy (CO₂ capture, water-to-hydrogen conversion, photovoltaic energy conversion, etc.).

## Astrochemistry

In interstellar media, more than 250 molecules have been identified, including large carbonaceous molecules such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), fullerenes, and Complex Organic Molecules (COMs). Laboratory studies are required to understand the physical and chemical processes that lead to such a rich chemical inventory.

In space, we find many ices in the dense phases of the interstellar medium (dense molecular clouds and proto-stellar cores) and in the solar system. Dusts, micro-meteorites, or surfaces of giant planets are covered with icy mantles, formed from simple molecules ($H_2O$, CO, $CO_2$, $NH_3$, $CH_4$, etc.), but more complex molecules have been detected. These ices are continuously exposed to ionizing radiation from ultraviolet photons, electrons, and energetic heavy ions. This induces several physicochemical processes, including desorption and sputtering, structural/phase changes, and fragmentation/radiolysis, which lead to the formation of new molecules. Even though heavy ions are much less abundant than protons or electrons in space, their impact on the radiolysis sputtering phenomena has proven to be the most influential. The high-energy ion beams of the IRRSUD are perfect for reproducing the effects of cosmic radiation on iced samples with the IGLIAS station.⁴⁷ where the low-energy beam of ARIBE perfectly reproduces the solar winds and magnetospheric particles interacting with icy objects in the solar system. IGLIAS allows the analysis of the formation of complex molecules in frozen samples in ultra-high vacuum ($10^{-10}$ mbar), using a Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer coupled with a UV-visible-ultraviolet spectrometer for monitoring the ice evolution at the molecular level, and a quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) for analyzing the gas phase in the chamber.

To increase the range of radiation types and study the synergetic effects of simultaneous irradiation with projectiles of different characteristics, a new multiple-beam irradiation platform is under construction at GANIL. This MIRRPLA platform⁴⁸ allows the irradiation of samples with simultaneous beams of UV photons, keV electrons, and keV-GeV ions. The platform was equipped with an in situ infrared spectrometer and an orbitrap mass spectrometer.

Astrophysical ice analogs (containing small molecules such as $H_2O$, CO, $CO_2$, $NH_3$, and $CH_3OH$) are irradiated to characterize and quantify the formation of complex organic molecules and prebiotic species, depending on the initial ice composition and temperature. In addition, the irradiation of complex organic matter (e.g., containing amino acids and nucleobases) will allow the investigation of their resistance to ionizing radiation and to simulate the space weathering of solar system bodies.

This new polyvalent instrument will be open to the whole scientific community (e.g., radiation biology, environmental science, and materials science), as well as to industry.

## Links with industries

Not only space industries are linked to GANIL. GANIL is transferring its developed know-how to industries in various domains; for example, the patent transferred to STIRWELD for the manufacture of vacuum tubes in ali-aluminum. Common research and development is ongoing with this company regarding welding techniques applied to vacuum and accelerator technologies. Collaboration on the design and construction of an innovative glove box adapted to research needs is starting with IDEALEX. Technological research collaboration is being set up with SCIENTEAMA, a company based in Normandy, to develop a plasma tomography tool to study the effects of parameters influencing deep plasma. The aim is to identify an instrumentation solution to optimize ion beam stability.

GANIL is keen to keep the technologies of its facilities at the highest level and is working with industry to find the skills and innovation that will enable them to meet future challenges.

## Conclusions

GANIL is a research infrastructure with an exceptionally broad range of ion species and energy. The high-energy and heavy-ion beams of GANIL are unique in Europe and present LET with exceptional potential for applications in space exploration or satellite instrumentation, health and energy, or environment, and the development of new materials for quantum technologies. The large variety of heavy-ion beams is enriched with experimental setups and platforms, forming remarkable detection and analysis setups, all open to the user community via open calls accessible on the GANIL website.⁴⁹,⁵⁰
## Ethics and consent

Ethical approval and consent were not required.

## Data availability

No data are associated with this article.

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# Open Peer Review

Current Peer Review Status: ? ?

Version 1

Reviewer Report 04 January 2025

https://doi.org/10.21956/nuclscitechnolopenres.18894.r27882

© 2025 Horst F. This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the [Creative Commons Attribution License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /></figure>

Felix Horst iD

OncoRay - National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Dresden, Saxony, Germany

The manuscript "Applications of GANIL Research Activities and Techniques" submitted by Target et al. to NST Open Research gives an overview about the French heavy ion research center GANIL (Grand Accélérateur National d'Ions Lourds) in Caen. It gives a comprehensive overview about the research activities and experimental capabilities. I suggest that the authors can be a bit more specific in some topics. Also many research topics are mentioned while only a few or no references are cited. I believe that there should be more published data as examples of the output of the GANIL research facility and I encourage to add more references to publications of users.

I suggest to once write in full what GANIL stands for (and where it is located for readers who do not know it). That also applied to other abbreviations used (some are written, some not).

Since NST Open Research is an American journal, I suggest that a native English speaker should take a look at the text.

The short description of the facility would certainly benefit from a schematic Figure or an overview map of the facility to have a better imagination of its experimental halls and accelerator complex. That could then be referred through in all the different sections of the manuscript.

"The number of GANIL users is approximately a thousand; among them, one-third are from French Universities and Laboratories, one-third are from European Universities and laboratories, and the last third are international. Between 200 and 400 visit GANIL to perform experiments every year." - Are these numbers not contradictory? 200-400 versus 1000. Or do the 200-400 only count the international guests?

Figure 1: Are the given numbers LET in water? Please specify.

I found the described approach of studying nuclear fission characteristics in inverse kinematics by
inducing nucleon-pickup reactions in uranium ion beams (or other fission isotope beams) and separating the fragments in-flight highly interesting. However, I wonder if the fission mechanism and the fragment yields are really comparable to neutron-induced fission as relevant for nuclear reactors. Would the excitation energies, etc., not differ from regular neutron induced fission reactions? It would be nice if the authors could elaborate a bit more on that aspect.

In the radiobiology section the authors describe a huge beam time offer of "approximately 200 h a year", for 95 MeV/u carbon ions and research on that field since many years. I guess there must be more publications of data available than actually cited in the section and I would encourage the author to add more selected radiobiological findings and references.

How is the beam formation for irradiation of biological samples done? Scanning or scattering or special ion optics in the beamline? What is the maximum field size available for samples?

On the FLASH radiotherapy topic, no references are given. Are there maybe publications or conference contributions available that describe those activities at GANIL? Some numbers, like dose rate, dose per pulse, field size etc., would be interesting for readers from the FLASH community.

In-vitro capabilities and laboratories are described, but is there also the possibility to perform in-vivo experiments (or planned for the future)?

"In proton therapy, the treatment of tumors smaller than 3 cm in diameter is limited by the uncertainties of the treatment planning system and the spatial resolution of the control detectors." - I do not know where the number of 3 cm comes from. Range uncertainties (I believe that is what the authors want to describe here) are relevant for tumors of all sizes. Now the authors write about proton therapy while the previous sections were focused on heavy ion science. Can the GANIL accelerators also provide protons in an energy range relevant for proton therapy research? Is there a magnetic scanning system available?

"Moreover, with the pencil beam scanning technique, the treatment plan is structured as a sum of pencil beams, each delivered in several fractions of variable intensity, called pulses." - They are more commonly called spots, not pulses.

"This division into pulses makes it difficult to verify the agreement between the planned and delivered pencil-beam characteristics during treatment quality control." Please describe why that should be the case. Regular quality assurance measurements are performed as standard measurements in proton therapy clinics with pencil beam scanning technology using dedicated detectors and phantoms. The special feature of the scintillator system described by the authors is, as I understood, the 3D dose information that it provides.

"0.02 to 1 Monitor Units (MU) per pencil beam and with clinical treatment plans." - Monitor units are arbitrary units. What would be interesting here is the conversion to number of protons.

"If a proof of principle for the production of ²¹¹At can be demonstrated using these operating conditions, it will represent a new source of alpha-emitting isotopes for the different research fields of the TRT (radiochemistry, radiolabeling, radiobiology). More important and practical production will require the construction of a dedicated irradiation room, which is currently under
consideration." - 211At has a half life of approximately 7 hours. It would be nice if the authors could give some insights into the logistics. Are there plans for shipping the produced isotope to hospitals in entire France or only in the vicinity of GANIL? Is the coupling to a carrier drug also planned to be performed in laboratories on-site?

A large beam time request for radiation hardness tests of electronics is describes: "In 2024, even though more than 400 h were scheduled, only 40% of the requests could be satisfied." - Are the users mostly from industry or also from academia? For industry users how are their beamtime requests handled? Via the regular PAC selection or do they have to pay for the beamtime since they have a commercial interest? Maybe that is worth a sentence in the "Links with industries" section.

" and a very good reproduction of the alpha-irradiation conditions, as shown in Figure 4." - a good reproduction of the alpha-irradiation conditions in terms of the microscopic energy deposition pattern.

**Is the work clearly and accurately presented and does it cite the current literature?**

Partly

**Is the study design appropriate and does the work have academic merit?**

Yes

**Are sufficient details of methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others?**

Partly

**If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?**

Not applicable

**Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility?**

No source data required

**Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results?**

Yes

**Competing Interests:** No competing interests were disclosed.

**Reviewer Expertise:** Radiotherapy, Radiobiology, Heavy ion science, Nuclear Physics
I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Reviewer Report 26 December 2024

https://doi.org/10.21956/nuclscitechnolopenres.18894.r27855

© 2024 Kanematsu N. This is an open access peer review report distributed under the terms of the [Creative Commons Attribution License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /></figure>

Nobuyuki Kanematsu ID

Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, Inage-ku, Chiba, Japan

This paper extensively describes the activities in a research institution with multiple accelerator facilities for many purposes.

**General comments:**

As a researcher in a specific small field, it was very hard to read through the article that covers many scientific and technological fields. My impression was that it is like an internal report of an institution, primarily for its employees and stakeholders. That was mainly because of too many names and abbreviations that are not sufficiently defined or explained. Even the word GANIL was not very familiar to me. For general readers like myself, those names are not informative, but may interfere with reading.

To understand the text on the facilities, illustrative figures and tables may be desirable. A table may summarize the facilities with name, particles, energies, and brief description on purposes, usages, outcomes, or expectations. Figures may explain what those facilities are like visually.

Despite my personal difficulties in reading, there may be no critical issues that prevent from publication of this article as it just describes the facts, many of which I don't have sufficient knowledge to evaluate the correctness or significance. It is therefore up to the authors how they use my comments in revising the manuscript, or decide not to use them at all.

**Specific comments:**

**Title**

* It is not clear what GANIL is for general readers including myself.

* If it is an abbreviation, full spelling should be shown.

* If it is just a name, what it is (accelerator facility?) should be mentioned in the title.

**Abstract:**
* "the field of sustainable development" - not clear what it is or is it referring to the famous SDG?

* Short descriptions of GANIL facility

* Many unclear abbreviations used without sufficient explanations:

* CNRS, CEA - Are they research institutions, then for what research?

* CIRIL platform: is it a part of GANIL facility, another organization, or something else?

* Not sure what is meant by "beamline was created after stripping ..."

* The whole paragraph starting "In 1989" is hard to read. Perhaps illustration may be necessary.

* What does "K=265" mean?

* "A few years later, in 2002" ... Only one year later from the first major upgrade...

* Figure 1... What are 5 µm, 100 µm, and 1500 µm? written in the figure?

**Nuclear data:**

* NFS

**VAMOS:**

* Please describe what VAMOS is in the first paragraph after the heading.

**Radiobiology:**

* Platform for Irradiations for Radiobiology with Accelerated Ions (IRIA)

* "Finally, original in vitro models"... The research may be still developing, for which "finally" may be inadequate.

* The last paragraph "To gain ... dose around metallic nanoparticles" should be moved to the next section.

**Dosimetry for hadrontherapy:**

* "tumor smaller than 3 cm in diameter is limited..." Where did this fact come from? At least reference citation is needed.

* Production of innovative radio-isotopes for targeted alpha-therapy

* Dosimetry for in vitro alpha-therapy experiments "this PhD thesis" should be "a PhD thesis", where it first appears.

**Space applications**
**Material Science**

**PELLICAEN:**

* The abbreviation ECR must be defined where it first appear in the text.

**Astrochemistry:**

* I could not find the term "giant planets" in dictionaries, perhaps giant planets?

**Links with industries:**

* STIRWELD, IDEALEX, SCIENTEAMA: Such companies should be described with their full name and location (city) to be identifiable by readers.

**Conclusions:**

* "all open to the user community..." Such potential users may want to hear briefly how the application procedure will be like and how much charges will be required, unless they are free.

**Is the work clearly and accurately presented and does it cite the current literature?**

Yes

**Is the study design appropriate and does the work have academic merit?**

Yes

**Are sufficient details of methods and analysis provided to allow replication by others?**

Yes

**If applicable, is the statistical analysis and its interpretation appropriate?**

Not applicable

**Are all the source data underlying the results available to ensure full reproducibility?**

Yes

**Are the conclusions drawn adequately supported by the results?**

Yes

**Competing Interests:** No competing interests were disclosed.

**Reviewer Expertise:** medical physics

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.