RW Monitor
1/23/2015
IN THE INDUSTRY
A Perma-Fix Medical-led consortium announced this week that it had received a grant totaling $2.7 million from the National Centre for Research and Development in Poland to further develop and commercialize a prototype generator for the production of technetium-99m. 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 is expecting a shortage in the market in the coming years, opening a potentially lucrative opportunity to satisfy the market for the medical isotope used in millions of procedures annually. Under the grant, Perma-Fix Medical will receive $800,000 directly while the remaining amount will be allocated to four other organizations under Perma-Fix leadership to support technology development and testing. The four other groups include: the National Centre for Nuclear Research – Radioisotope Centre POLATOM in Otwock; the Institute for Biopolymers and Chemical Fibers – Department of Biopolymers in ?ód?; Warsaw Medical University – Department of Nuclear Administration; and the Institute of Industrial Organic Chemistry Branch in Pszczyna. “This funding marks a significant achievement and validation for Perma-Fix Medical, as the project was ranked third on the list of 97 projects that submitted applications, and was among only 12 projects that were recommended for funding,” Perma-Fix CEO Lou Centofanti said in a statement. “We believe the grant subsidies will accelerate the rollout of our technology in Europe and in the USA.”
IN CONGRESS
Senate Republicans this week officially named Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee. Alexander had been expected to assume the top spot on the panel since Republicans took control of the Senate in November. He served as the ranking member of the subcommittee for the last four years alongside former chairman Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who will serve as the panel’s ranking member.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) will remain the ranking member of the House Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, but the panel will have two new Democratic faces, House Appropriations Committee ranking member Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) said in a statement this week. Reps. Mike Honda (D-Calif.) and Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-Calif.) will join the subcommittee, replacing Reps. Ed Pastor (D-Ariz.) and Chaka Fattah (D-Pa.). Pastor did not run for reelection last year, while Fattah shifted his attention to other subcommittees. The fourth and final member of the subcommittee is Rep. Peter Visclosky (D-Ind.), the panel’s former top Democrat and the ranking member of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
House Energy and Commerce Committee staffer Annie Caputo has joined the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, led by Chairman Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), Caputo announced this week. “I will dearly miss the Members, the staff, and the work of House E&C, but I am honored and humbled that Sen. Inhofe has included me on his team in the new Senate majority once again handling nuclear issues,” Caputo said in a message to colleagues.
