Texas Southern University students assist in cyclotron efforts

The McGovern Medical School cyclotron at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) has been removed, but trace amounts of radioactivity may still remain in the six-foot thick concrete vault.

That’s what students from Texas Southern University (TSU) were tasked with discovering during their visit to McGovern Medical School Jan. 11 as they measured for residual radioactivity in the cyclotron facility.

Led by Mark Harvey, PhD, associate professor of physics in the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at TSU, six students with interest in radiation health physics used a variety of specialized detectors to record the numeric values of the remaining radioactivity as part of an independent research project.

“Two of these students participated in the UTHealth Summer Research Program through scholarship support housed at TSU from funding sources such as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and National Science Foundation,” Harvey explained. “Our study will be a third independent measurement to add to the cyclotron decommissioning data.”

The cyclotron was located in a 6,800 square-foot facility on the Fannin Street side of the medical school and was used by researchers to produce short-lived isotopes in PET imaging.

“The cyclotron was rendered inoperable by Tropical Storm Allison and has been sitting dormant for 17 years with the remaining radioactivity slowly decaying away,” explained Bob Emery, DrPH, vice president of safety, health, environment & risk management.

The UTHealth Department of Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management now has offices in the former cyclotron building.

The Texas Department of State Health Services required the school to remove the defunct cyclotron by Aug. 31, 2021 – at a cost of $1 million. Following the evaluations of radiation levels, the department must verify that the former cyclotron concrete vault site may be reconfigured to usable space.