90-tonne cancer-fighting cyclotron arrived on site at UCLH!

The 90-tonne cyclotron

PBT is a form of radiotherapy that destroys cancer cells with pinpoint accuracy with less damage to surrounding tissue. This is particularly important for children and young people, and when cancers are in certain parts of the body.

What UCLH will look like in 2020

Bouygues UK, in collaboration with Bouygues Travaux Publics, is delivering the PBT centre for UCLH, which, once completed in the summer of 2020, will treat up to 750 patients every year. The delivery of the cyclotron is a technically complex and exacting process that Bouygues UK and our experienced infrastructure colleagues at Bouygues Travaux Publics have spent months preparing for so congratulations to the entire project team for their enormous effort in reaching this fantastic milestone!

The cyclotron being lifted to its vault

The cyclotron is the size of a family car and weighs the same as seven London buses. Having travelled 400 miles from Germany to UCLH, the machine was successfully lowered into its especially constructed vault.

Some info on the cyclotron

The cyclotron is cooled by liquid helium to -269˚C and accelerates ionized hydrogen gas to two-thirds the speed of light (over 100,000 miles per second). The protons are then guided using huge magnets, along a beam line to the treatment room where they are delivered with millimetre accuracy to target the cancer.