Breakthrough As Petten Becomes First Mo-99 Production Facility In Europe To Stop Using HEU In Medical Isotope Production

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NRG, the world’s largest producer of medical isotopes, said its molybdenum production facility (MPF) has become the first in Europe to stop using high-enriched uranium (HEU) in the production process.

Until recently, HEU targets for Curium, the Paris-based provider of Mo-99 and other nuclear medicine products, were irradiated in the High-Flux Reactor (HFR) at Petten in the Netherlands to produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), an important isotope used in hospitals.

The process in the MPF has now been converted to low-enriched uranium (LEU) only, the culmination of a project that began in 2011. The HFR had already changed its fuel to LEU in 2006.

NRG and Curium had to modify the production process in a way that guaranteed the same quality of the final product. NRG said the process was “long and complicated”, but it considers the result a major milestone.

To read more please visit: https://www.nucnet.org/all-the-news/2018/01/31/breakthrough-for-nrg-as-petten-becomes-first-facility-in-europe-to-stop-using-heu-in-medical-isotope-production

Source: NucNet