Northwest Medical Isotopes (NWMI) could be just a few months away from securing approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission to build a plant for production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99.
“Ninety-nine percent of the work is done, so now you’re just going through the procedural process in getting it approved,” NWMI Chief Operating Officer Carolyn Haass told RadWaste Monitor recently.
The commission has scheduled a Jan. 23 evidentiary hearing on the construction permit, hearing presentations from company officials and NRC staff on the project and asking any final questions. While it could take up to four months for the commission to rule on the permit application, Haass said she instead expects a decision within 30 days of the hearing given the lack of opposition to the production plant.
In early November, the NRC’s Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards formally recommended approval of the construction permit. On Nov. 16, the Corvallis, Ore.-based company was also notified that its facility had cleared a safety review by NRC staff.
“[S]taff finds that the preliminary design and analysis of the NWMI production facility … (1) provides reasonable assurance that the final design will conform to the design basis; (2) includes an adequate margin of safety; (3) demonstrates that SSCs adequately provide for the prevention of accidents and the mitigation of consequences of accidents; and (4) meets applicable regulatory requirements as well as applicable NRC guidance,” according to the NRC safety evaluation report.
Based on those findings, NRC staff recommended the commission “make the necessary findings with respect to the safety of the construction permit” in line with federal regulations. In an introductory letter attached to the report, the NRC cautioned that the finding does not commit the commission to sign off on the construction permit for the planned molybdenum-99 production plant at the Discovery Ridge Research Park in Columbia, Mo.
Assuming approval from the commission, NWMI plans to begin site preparation in the second quarter of 2018, followed by construction and testing into 2020. The plant should be fully functional by the second quarter of that year, Haass said.
Northwest Medical would require separate NRC licenses for operations and possession of special nuclear material to actually produce the isotope. Those license applications should be submitted to the agency in the second quarter of next year, according to Haass.
The United States has no domestic production capacity for molybdenum-99, which decays into technetium-99m, an isotope used in medical imaging for heart disease and other health dangers. Several U.S. companies plan facilities for manufacturing the isotope. Northwest says its planned facility could meet half the need for mo-99 in North America – its production level is anticipated at as much as 2,500 6-day Curies per week, according to the NRC.
When finished, the NWMI plant would encompass two above-ground floors and a basement totaling about 70,000 square feet. The projected cost for construction is not being made public, Haass noted.
One area of the plant, according to the NRC’s draft summary record of decision on the site, would encompass areas for receiving low-enriched uranium targets delivered by partnering research reactors, disassembly and dissolution of the targets, recovery and purification of the mo-99, recovery and recycling of uranium, waste management, and additional lab and support operations. The second area would house target fabrication operations.
