STELLARRAY INC — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 04c

Description

The “sterile insect technique” has been successfully applied for several decades to control or eradicate insect pests that threaten agricultural crops or human health in the U.S. and around the world. Pest insects are carefully bred at industrial-scale facilities, with the pupae irradiated with just enough dose to render the insects sterile but otherwise healthy when they are grown and released into the environment. They then mate with others of their species but produce no offspring, causing the pest population to decline and in some cases vanish. The problem is that most of the irradiators for this technique are based on radioactive Cesium-137 or Cobalt-60, both of which could be used by terrorists in a radiological attack. Most of these irradiators are in remote locations, where providing the necessary security for the isotopes imposes a high administrative and cost burden, thereby limiting the application of the technique. Of the 66 facilities currently in operation, 11 are in the U.S, but most are in less developed countries, including 16 in Africa. Available alternative technologies have been found wanting, including electron beam systems that cannot achieve the required dose uniformity without very high-energy sources that need massive radiation shielding, or point-source x-ray tubes, that cannot provide the required throughput. Stellarray proposes the development of a Sterile Insect Technique X-ray Irradiator based on its flat panel x-ray sources, which can efficiently deliver highly uniform x-ray flux over a broad area, with sustained operation at high power levels for high throughput. The Stellarray Irradiator will use pairs of these panels above and below a conveyor belt transporting the pupae through a self- shielded irradiation chamber, in a system resembling an airport baggage scanner. The system will be modular and scalable to any size insect control operation. It will be designed to use power from any source, including stand-alone generators. Doses can easily be varied for use with any pest species. The Stellarray system will fit seamlessly into the process flow of these industrial-scale operations, and will save the operators several process steps. The Stellarray x-ray panels have been developed for blood irradiators and research irradiators. The proposed Phase I project will adapt these sources for a system that can operate continuously at high dose rates. The project will also test a new source concept using grazing incidence electron beams, which if successful, will offer further efficiency increases and thus lower system power requirements.The immediate benefit of this technology will be an alternative to radioactive isotopes that present a security hazard, Cesium 137 because it has a long half-life and is made as a dispersible powder, and Cobalt 60 because it is so prevalent. Further applications will include medical product sterilization, where Cobalt 60 is common. By reducing the security burdento operators, the technology will ease the expansion of the sterile insect technique, which can save billions of dollars of agricultural production and thousands of lives in a way that is ecologically sound (no chemical pesticides) and environmentally benign (no added control species).