The CNAO facility: operation and maintenance

CNAO is one of the few centres in the world that can treat patients with both proton and carbon ion beams and, in the next few years, with Boron Neutron Capture Therapy. The CNAO Synchrotron is not a commercially available machine but was designed by CNAO and built to specification by hundreds of different firms. This paper gives a brief overview about the operation and maintenance of the CNAO facility together with an anticipation of the technologies that are going to be installed in the near future and the more significant upgrades that are on the way.

CNAO adopted a hybrid method for maintenance, partly performed internally (for the accelerator) and partly by service companies (for the plants), obtaining a high reliability and the quickest response to technical problems that may delay treatments.

With just under 5000 treated patients and a system reliability of 98.7%, CNAO’s approach is effective in guaranteeing the necessary continuity in patient’s treatments.

CNAO is growing with the addition of two new accelerators, expanding its treatment possibilities.