Jeremy L. Dillon
NS&D Monitor
10/2/2015
The National Nuclear Security Administration said this week it has entered into a new cooperative agreement to help finance General Atomics’ molybdenum-99 production technology. The agreement, including a $9.7 million cost-share contribution, marks the fifth such agreement the NNSA has entered into with companies seeking to produce the medical isotope used in millions of procedures annually. General Atomic plans to combine its selective gas extraction (SGE) technology with the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) and Nordion’s Mo-99 purification capability to provide Mo-99 suitable for use in all existing technetium- 99m generators, the company said.
“This cooperative agreement exemplifies NNSA’s ongoing commitment to accelerate the establishment of domestic production of this important medical isotope, and demonstrates that the Government and commercial industry can work together to reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation while providing stability to an important part of the medical radioisotope market,” NNSA Deputy Administrator for Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Anne Harrington said in a statement. “The development of commercial technologies to produce Mo-99 without the use of HEU will ensure that patients have access to the care they need while advancing global nuclear nonproliferation objectives.”
The NNSA has supported companies looking to produce a steady supply of the medical isotope. The isotope has typically been produced outside the U.S. by government-subsidized efforts utilizing proliferation-sensitive highly enriched uranium. But the NNSA 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 development efforts due to market viability concerns. However, the remaining two companies, SHINE Medical and NorthStar, expect to begin production sometime near the end of 2016 or early 2017, depending on how quickly they can navigate the regulatory process.
With Canada set to stop government spending in 2016 on the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor, one of the world’s largest suppliers of molybdenum-99 and technetium-99m, the medical isotope industry anticipates a shortage in the market in the coming years, opening a potentially lucrative opportunity to satisfy the market need. NRU’s anticipated shutdown has led to a slew of start-ups 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 plan to establish production capabilities between late 2016 and early 2017.
