Radiotherapy using high-energy carbon beams from the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC) has been carried out at the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) since June 1994, and more than 17,000 patients were treated by now. With the prospective clinical results for the first ten years, we designed a compact accelerator facility for carbon-ion radiotherapy (CIRT), and performed related Research and Development (R&D) works for widespread use of CIRT since 2004. Based on the design and the R&D works, five compact facilities for CIRT were constructed and are in treatment operation, and furthermore the compact facilities are being constructed around the world. To further develop the sophisticated CIRT, we constructed a new treatment facility at NIRS. This new facility is equipped with three treatment rooms; two of them have both horizontal and vertical fixed-irradiation-ports, and the other is a rotating-gantry port. For all ports, fast 3D raster-scanning irradiation technology is employed. Presently, we are further designing a next-generation compact facility as a future project; superconducting and laser technologies are to be used for accelerator design. In this article, a review of the medical accelerator development for carbon-ion radiotherapy is described in celebration of the 30th anniversary of HIMAC.

The 7th International School on Beam Dynamics and Accelerator Technology (ISBA24) was successfully conducted as part of the KEK-IINAS-NX series. ISBA24 was held in Chiang Mai University from 1st to 9th November 2024. Sixty-four students and 18 lecturers participated from many countries and regions, including ASEAN countries. The nine-day enrichment curriculum included lectures, Hands-on training, student presentations, and a presentation in the summary session of the Hands-on training. The young people, who are the future of accelerator research, deepened their friendships and developed their knowledge and enthusiasm for the future of accelerator research.

To discover and foster the next generation of engineers and researchers in accelerator science, we are implementing an educational program where technical college students build accelerators by themselves. Activity members from each technical college gathered at KEK for a debriefing session. This paper reports on the meeting.

Innovation of nuclear medicine practice is ongoing. It is a theranostics of PET and SPECT imaging-based radioisotope (RI) therapy. In this process, stable supply of RIs is a key issue. Current international supply chain of medical RI is at risk of shortage in spite of increasing needs. Accelerators are expected to produce medical RI and to contribute to sustainable nuclear medicine practice especially for patients with cancers.

Medical radioisotopes (RI) are commercially manufactured with cyclotrons as raw material of radiopharmaceutical products. Nihon Medi-Physics, radiopharmaceutical company in Japan, has been developing manufacturing technology of alpha emitting nuclide ²²⁵Ac and positron emitting nuclide ⁸⁹Zr for Theragnostic medical agent. For commercialization of RI, scaling up is required from basic study in academia (kBq–MBq) to commercial mass production (GBq–TBq). Gap of radio activity between them is over thousand times and overcoming of several technological challenges is necessary. Moreover, some other issue such as economic efficiency, quality requirements as medicine, regulatory also severely affect in commercialization. Described here is a part of topics from a speech in The Second Accelerator Symposium held on 12th December 2024.

The creation of sustainable nuclear and radiation technologies is expected to play an important role for the realization of GX (Green Transformation). Despite the expectation, many nuclear and radiation-related facilities in Japan are rapidly losing not only research and human resource development functions but also safety management systems due to the deterioration of facilities and instruments and the retirement of staffs. In order to solve the existing issues associated to safety management and to strengthen the research and education infrastructure, the conversion of nuclear fuel materials with no actual use into medical radioisotope resources should be one of the most effective strategies. Therefore, we are promoting an advanced project to construct a research and education platform enabling the centralized storage and management of nuclear materials, the securing of radium resources, and the actinium production.

The seventh annual International School on Beam Dynamics and Accelerator Technology (ISBA) was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from November 1–9, 2024. Sixty-four students from countries throughout Asia and beyond had the opportunity to gain theoretical and practical knowledge about accelerator science during and intensive course of lectures and hands-on training sessions covering accelerator fundamentals, advanced topics and applications while also experiencing the vibrant culture of Northern Thailand.

The symposium entitled “Pulsed Power and Accelerator” was held on 3 August 2024 in Yamagata as the 9^th symposium against proposal by Young Researchers Association of the Japan Beam Physics Club. This symposium discussion is the pulsed power technology used in the field of accelerator science and technology.

At the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Japan Beam Physics Club & Young Researchers Association, researchers and students from national research institutes, universities, and private companies gathered to share the latest developments in beam physics. The conference featured presentations on advanced accelerator and laser beam technologies, as well as innovations in the applications of ion and electron beams. Young researchers also presented their achievements, and several awards were given for outstanding presentations. The meeting fostered collaboration among participants and is expected to contribute to the future advancement of research in the field of beam physics.