NorthStar Medical technologies, Beloit, Wis., inked a $37-million cooperative agreement with the National Nuclear Security Administration to produce the medical isotope Molybdenum 99, the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency announced Friday.
NorthStar, which had to put up matching funds to get the $37 million from the agency, will use the cash to produce the isotope domestically without relying on highly enriched uranium — a bomb-usable material that represents a potential proliferation risk.
NorthStar in 2018 produced uranium by irradiating a Molybdenum 98 target. The company had trended ahead of the competition in the medical imaging space, in recent years.
Molybdenum 99 decays into Technetium 99, which is widely used for medical imaging that can aid with diagnoses of different illnesses.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has been planting seed money for domestic Molybdenum 99 in recent years and had spent the better part of $200 million as of fiscal year 2020.
