Supplying Alternative Mo-99/Tc-99m Production: Availability of Mo-100/Mo-98

摘要

The push for alternative production of Mo-99/Tc-99m began in earnest after the unattended 2009 shut down of the NRU reactor in Canada and the near concurrent accelerated effort by the US Global Threat Reduction Imitative (GTRI) to achieve their mission to "reduce and protect vulnerable nuclear and radiological material located at civilian sites worldwide". The Mo-99 supply shortage caused by NRU shutdown and subsequent decision to cease all Mo-99 production at NRU beyond 2016 highlighted the dangerous consequences of relying on a fragile, aging and subsidized research reactor infrastructure to supply a medical isotope that is used in 50,000 diagnostic procedures worldwide per day. Additionally, the GTRI intends to ensure that efforts to secure vulnerable nuclear materials around the world will not be delayed or need to be repeated in the future due to the continued use of HEU for production of Mo-99. These facts and the recent enactment of The American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2012 (S.99) have further advanced the goal of Non-HEU production of Mo-99/Tc-99m. ISOFLEX USA (IUSA) has been working with the domestic and international projects for 6+ years that seek to produce Mo-99/Tc-99m using the various production routes that require either the stable isotope Mo-98 (n, γ) or Mo-100 (p, 2n), (γ, n), (n, 2n). Along with our partner, Production Association Electrochemical Plant (ECP) in Russia, IUSA has been providing gaseous centrifuge enriched Mo-98 and Mo-100 with tailored isotopic content and chemical impurity levels that fit the needs of multiple projects and production methods. Specifically, IUSA have been successful in supplying Mo-100 with isotopic enrichments between 95-99.86%, with the latter having isotopic contents of Mo-92 through Mo-97 at ＜0.003%. With fully operational Mo centrifuge production cascades, ECP has the unique ability to meet the demand, purity and delivery requirements of any Mo-98/Mo-100 based Mo-99/Tc-99m production process. ECP is fully ISO certified and compliant by DIN (ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 isotope production certification). ECP's high quality isotope production has been independently verified by numerous labs, including, Fresenius Institute (Germany), GiredMet (Moscow), State Research Center for Geological Tests (P.R. China), Maxxam (Canada), and the Evans Analytical Group (USA). IUSA has been supplying stable isotopes produced in the Russian Federation for 18 years to the worldwide scientific community. We are equally dedicated to serving both our customers and our suppliers. Our focus is to provide a combination of product knowledge, market expertise, logistics capability, dependable quality and reliable service in bridging the needs of both customer and supplier, in a manner that will promote long-term trust.