Jeremy L. Dillon
RW Monitor
2/13/2015
Canada extended late last week the operations of the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor an additional two years, Canada Minister of Natural Resources Greg Rickford announced. Canada had intended on stopping government funding in 2016 for the NRU reactor, one of the world’s largest suppliers of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m. This shutdown could potentially cause a global shortage of the medical isotope used in millions of procedures annually should a commercial production facility fail to come on-line. The extension, though, could support global medical isotope demand between 2016 and 2018 in the event of unexpected shortages, Rickford said. “Since announcing our plans to restructure our nuclear laboratories, our government has acted responsibly to ensure the security of supply of medical isotopes,” Rickford said in a statement. “Our support for this extension demonstrates our ongoing commitment to a responsible transition of our laboratories that supports global medical isotope supply.”
Like the United States, Canada has been investing in companies looking to commercially develop production technology for the isotope. “The Government of Canada’s strategy has included a $60-million investment to significantly advance scientific research and the development of alternative sources of isotope supply,” Natural Resources Canada said in a release. “Recent announcements by TRIUMF, Prairie Isotope Production Enterprise and the University of Alberta, including the Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke, have confirmed successful milestones toward commercialization.”
The United States, for its part, through the National Nuclear Security Administration, has instituted a cost-sharing agreement with four companies in its efforts to jump start a domestic supply. Two of the companies involved in the NNSA’s cost-sharing agreement, GE Hitachi and B&W, have halted its development due to market viability concerns. However, the remaining two companies, SHINE and NorthStar, expect to begin production sometime near the end of 2016 or early 2017.
NRU’s anticipated shutdown has led to a slew of startups looking to fill the lucrative medical isotope void—eight –to-nine companies have already sent the Nuclear Regulatory Commission letters of intent to submit construction authorization licenses for a potential Mo-99 production facility. Most of the companies have a timeline to reach production capabilities between late 2016 and early 2017, and with many saying they could produce up to 50 percent of the industry demand, it appears there will not be room for all these companies. The additional two years from the NRU reactor could alleviate any transitional period from NRU’s shutdown to commercial production by ensuring an emergency backup plan should a shortage in supply occur.
Extension Not Expected to Impact Industry Efforts
According to an industry executive, the NRU extension should not slow down the urgency to get a domestic supply up and running. “Really, it doesn’t affect us because most of us aren’t starting up until 2017, and actually it would support the continuous production of Mo-99,” an industry executive told RW Monitor this week. “Remember, the 18 month extension has to do with the emergency supply only. They don’t plan on having a weekly tempo with that. If some production is going down, then they can bring the NRU reactor back up for a period of time, but it’s not supposed to be a weekly supply like it is now.”
Note: This story has been updated from a previous version to include the correct title of the National Nuclear Security Administration.
