Scientific research is important to better serve the economy and society

Source: Economic Daily

When it comes to heavy ion acceleration technology, the first impression is often cutting-edge technology and big scientific research projects. Today, this technology is becoming more and more mature and has been successfully applied to specific industries and industrial chains.

A few days ago, the reporter visited Lanzhou and other places and learned that the heavy ion accelerator technology of the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the "Institute of Modern Physics") has important and extensive applications in industrial and agricultural production, medical and health care. What is heavy ion acceleration technology? How to find an independent road involving a wide range of fields, a long industrial chain, and a high industrial output value? How can scientific research and heavy equipment better serve economic development and social life?

Promote the high-end of the pharmaceutical industry

Heavy ion acceleration technology uses a certain form of electromagnetic field to accelerate heavy ions by artificial methods to form a high-energy heavy ion beam to bombard other substances. At present, the Lanzhou Heavy Ion Accelerator is the largest in China, with the largest number of accelerated particles and the highest energy.

Walking out of Lanzhou Airport, the slogan of "China's Heavy Ion, New Hope for Life" is visible. The use of heavy ion accelerators in the treatment of tumors and cancers is one of the applications of the industrial chain of large scientific devices extending to the field of people's livelihood.

Zhang Yanshan, vice president of Gansu Wuwei Cancer Hospital, introduced that the medical heavy ion accelerator currently put into use in the hospital is a medical accelerator device with completely independent intellectual property rights and completely independent manufacturing in mainland China, which is produced and manufactured by Lanzhou Kejintaiji New Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Lanzhou Taiji"). The device uses a carbon ion beam to kill cancer cells, and the side effects are also superior to some conventional treatments.

Lanzhou Taiji is a high-tech enterprise under the Chinese Academy of Sciences Holding Co., Ltd. and the Institute of Modern Physics, and is currently the only medical device enterprise in China with the core technology of medical heavy ion accelerator and its manufacturing, installation and commissioning, operation and maintenance capabilities. Yang Wenjie, deputy general manager of the company, said that completely independent intellectual property rights and completely independent manufacturing are the confidence and confidence to open up the heavy ion therapy market at home and abroad.

According to reports, the value of a single industrial chain of domestic medical heavy ion accelerator has reached 10 billion yuan, and 8 units have been successfully promoted in China, with a direct sales contract amount of about 5 billion yuan, and a new equipment agreement of 2 billion yuan signed this year, and more than 10 units will be promoted in the next five years. In the future, the company will deploy a 100 billion yuan industrial chain around medical services, equipment manufacturing, infrastructure, operation and maintenance services, personnel training and other links.

While the high-end medical equipment industry is booming, the high-end pharmaceutical industry has also made new progress.

Medical isotopes have irreplaceable advantages in the diagnosis and treatment of major diseases such as cancer, such as safety, accuracy and effectiveness. Taking the α isotope Ac-225 as an example, the current annual production of the isotope Ac-225 is only enough for about 1,000 patients per year, and the world urgently needs innovative technology to solve the problems of low yield and low purity of therapeutic α isotopes. The Institute of Modern Physics is building the world's first α-isotope drug R&D platform for precision radiotherapy in Lanzhou New Area, and plans to carry out mass production of medical isotopes and targeted drug research and development through innovative R&D and production processes.

Hu Zhengguo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Deputy Director of the Institute of Modern Physics, introduced that after the platform is officially put into operation, the annual sales of medical isotope raw materials will reach 900 million to 1.5 billion yuan based on the conservative calculation of the current production capacity under construction.

Medical isotopes account for about 30% of the cost of medical isotope drugs, and the annual sales of medical isotope drugs are expected to reach 3 billion to 5 billion yuan. After the breakthrough in medical isotope production capacity, it can not only realize the independent and controllable supply of key core technologies, equipment research and development and industrial chain supply, but also help increase supply and reduce product prices, so that more people can use and afford it.

Breed new varieties to increase yields

In addition to being used in the pharmaceutical industry, the use of heavy ion beam irradiation breeding to breed new grain varieties is another application field of heavy ion acceleration technology.

The mechanism of irradiation breeding is similar to that of space breeding, and the advantages of terrestrial accelerator breeding are that the type of ion beam, beam intensity, and energy can be controlled. By screening the irradiated seeds, using controllable heavy ion beam iterative irradiation and optimal breeding, new varieties can be born that not only meet the needs of planting and production, but also meet the needs of national food security.

According to reports, the "Liangyou Low Cadmium No. 1" rice variety is a successful example of irradiation breeding. The low-cadmium "Zhenliangyou 8612" rice variety developed by the team of academician Yuan Longping was bred from the "low cadmium accumulation" parent obtained under the heavy ion beam treatment of the Institute of Modern Physics. Starting from this, the two sides carried out a large number of heavy ion creation of rice germplasm with low cadmium accumulation by increasing the sample size of heavy ion beam processing, which ultimately contributed to the successful research and creation of low cadmium rice.

While ensuring the green and healthy crops, improving crop yield is also one of the advantages of irradiation breeding. The Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology and the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, have cultivated a series of rice varieties with advantageous characteristics by using heavy ion beam irradiation breeding technology. For example, "Dongdao 122" and "Dongdao 275" can yield more than 600 kilograms per mu. As of 2023, the cumulative planting area of the new varieties of Dongdao series in Heilongjiang Province and Jilin Province has exceeded 1 million mu.

The application scenarios are becoming more and more extensive

In the recycling of water resources, sewage filtration is an indispensable technical link. What to use and how to filter, the key lies in the filter material. Heavy ion microporous membranes are relatively mature application materials. The heavy ion accelerator is used to deposit energy in the solid to form a strong electron excitation effect, which damages the irradiated structure of the membrane material, and then forms a microporous membrane through chemical etching, and the heavy ion microporous membrane is generated.

Using heavy ion microporous membranes, the sewage treatment system as the core of filtration can realize simultaneous nitrification and denitrification in a bubble-free state, which has unique advantages for the removal of total nitrogen in sewage. The water quality of the wastewater treated with microporous membranes will be greatly improved, the total nitrogen removal rate will be increased from 60% to more than 80%, and the energy consumption of the project will be reduced by 20%.

Energy is the food of industry and the lifeblood of the country's economy, and it is very important to maintain energy security. Due to its efficient, clean and green characteristics, nuclear energy accounts for an increasing proportion of the mainland's new energy system. However, the uranium shortage has been affecting the development of nuclear energy. The uranium in nature is mainly uranium-238, and the uranium-235 content is small, and uranium-235 can be directly used in general nuclear power plants. To this end, the Institute of Modern Physics has proposed a uranium-plutonium fuel recycling scheme, which can increase the utilization rate of uranium resources from about 1% to about 95%, and reduce the amount of nuclear waste emitted to a few tenths of the current level.

Yang Jiancheng, deputy director of the Institute of Modern Physics, said that the transformation of scientific and technological achievements to boost economic and social development should not only consider the trend of economic development, but also coordinate the rhythm of new and old industrial transformation. If there is no economy in industrial transformation, it will be difficult to cultivate the market and form a production chain. Taking medical isotope drugs as an example, a series of breakthroughs have been made in core technologies from 2009 to the present, which is inseparable from the support of all parties. In addition, the development of traditional nuclear energy to be more advanced and green is a pragmatic measure at the moment. (Economic Daily reporter Yin Sheng)