Boron Neutron Capture Therapy has expanded from brain tumors to lung and liver cancers and is now seen as a key to defeating cancer.
Despite this, Japan’s regulatory framework has halted both clinical application and basic research, even at facilities operating at negligible power levels.

This is a continuation of the previous chapter.
2016-01-04
Bold emphasis is mine.
In BNCT treatment, a drug containing a special form of boron is administered, and neutrons are applied at the moment cancer cells absorb the drug.
The boron then captures the neutrons and splits violently into two, releasing radiation that destroys the cancer cells.
The image is that of sending tiny firecrackers directly into the cancer cells.
BNCT is effective even against highly malignant cancers in which diseased tissue and healthy tissue are intertwined, making treatments previously considered impossible achievable.
As BNCT has evolved, its range of application has expanded from brain tumors and malignant melanoma of the skin to tongue cancer, oral cancer, parotid gland cancer, lung cancer, and liver cancer.
It is now regarded as a decisive key in overcoming cancer.
Successful treatment requires advanced coordination among three teams: nuclear engineering to safely produce neutrons using a reactor, pharmaceutical science to develop boron-containing drugs, and medical science specializing in radiation therapy.
The only place in the world where all three are fully integrated is the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute.
Yet this BNCT treatment, together with fundamental research using neutrons, has been halted by the regulatory commission.
This is because in 2013 the commission imposed strict new standards designed for commercial nuclear power plants and applied them to experimental and research reactors as well.
Kyoto University’s reactors operate at outputs of five thousand kilowatts and one hundred watts, while Kindai University’s reactor operates at a mere one watt.
This is approximately one three-billionth of a single Ohi Nuclear Power Plant unit operated by Kansai Electric Power, little more than a light bulb.
Such reactors are sufficiently cooled by air alone.
To be continued.