International Isotopes recorded nearly $230,000 in net income for its latest quarter, even as the company wrestled with the continued ramifications of its May 2019 release of cesium-137 at a hospital facility in Seattle.
Revenue for the three-month period ended June 30 came in at nearly $2.16 million for the Idaho Falls, Idaho, nuclear medicine specialist. That was up from almost $2.14 million in the same quarter of 2019, according to an Aug. 14 quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. After a $1.2 million net loss for the quarter in 2019, net income landed at $229,328 in the most recent earnings period.
The six-month numbers were not quite as strong: nearly $4.5 million in sales through June of this year, compared to just shy of $4.7 million a year ago; a net loss of $193,166, though that did represent a notable improvement from the $1.2 million net loss of 2019.
Revenue grew in its radiochemical products and cobalt products business lines, dipped in nuclear medicine products, and has largely evaporated for radiological services.
International Isotopes has stopped performing field radiological services in the wake of the incident in which its workers unintentionally cut into a sealed source while removing it from a blood irradiator at a research building for the University of Washington’s Harborview Medical Center. Cesium-137 contaminated 13 people and seven floors at the facility, which is still being cleaned.
The company has since been cited for violations of Washington state regulations, and is under review by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for potential breaches of its federal materials license and federal regulations. Both proceedings could result in civil penalties.
“It is not possible at this time to predict the timing or outcome of these matters or to estimate a potential amount of loss, if any,” according to the 10-Q filed with the SEC.
Management said it believes that International Isotopes should be indemnified under the Price-Anderson Act against any state penalty. That has been its overall position for expenses related to the Seattle event, which through June have exceeded $2.4 million. International Isotopes’ insurance provider paid out $964,958 for expenses last year. The Department of Energy, which oversaw the radiological security program under which the accident occurred, paid $576,732 for expenses during the first half of this year, the 10-Q says.
