Domestic Isotope Availability

SNM Isotope Availability Task Group
An SNM task group has been working over the past several months to put together a draft report of possible Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) suppliers for the US market. The initiation of this project whose mission is to research alternative means for isotope production within the United States began with the late 2007 shutdown by the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) of the aging National Research Universal (NRU) reactor. At that time, it was noted that the US capacity for domestic medical radioisotope production in support of nuclear medicine had declined sharply over the past 10 years. This, coupled with recent efforts to curtail the use of highly-enriched uranium (HEU) in radioisotope production as a non-proliferation strategy and to deter terrorism, now poses a significant threat to Mo-99 availability within the US. The subsequent cancellation in May 2008 of the MAPLE Reactors at the Chalk River Laboratories has made the need for an alternative domestic source for Mo-99 production more acute. Currently there are no facilities in the US that are dedicated to manufacturing Mo-99 for Mo-99/Tc-99m generators.

Preliminary Draft Report
The preliminary draft report does not contain suggested solutions to this problem. Instead, it provides a summary of discussions held with six potential sources that have the physical and intellectual resources to develop Mo-99 production capabilities, where those facilities are located, and estimates on development/production costs. The task group will continue its research over the next few months, and will be adding further information to the report as necessary.

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