The RENT-project: radiobiological results and planned clinical application.

Various preclinical tests have been performed to determine the properties of fast neutrons of a mean energy of 2 MeV produced by an U-235 converter plate in the research reactor of the Technical University of Munich. Experiments have been carried out using two specific beams denoted as RENT I and RENT II (RENT stands for Reaktor Neutron Therapy). RENT II is the unmodified beam with a dose rate of 65 rd/min and a gamma-contamination of nearly 50% in 2 cm depth of a perspex phantom. In RENT I the gamma-component is reduced to 25% after filtration of the beam with 2.5 cm lead, whereas the total dose rate is reduced to 22 rd/min.