1 Mar (NucNet): Production of Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) is to be increased by up to 50 percent at the BR2 research reactor at the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (Centre d’Etude de l’Energie Nucléaire SCK-CEN) in an effort to ease the global shortage of the radioisotope Technetium-99m (Tc-99m).
Operator SCK-CEN said that beginning in April 2010 it would add additional operating days and use new irradiation devices as part of a programme to increase its share of world Mo-99 production.
It said a programme had been put in place to increase BR2’s production capacity by 50 percent, in conjunction with the Institute for Radio-Elements (IRE) in Fleury, Belgium, and healthcare supplies company Covidien in the Netherlands.
SCK-CEN said it hoped the programme would allow them to cover 25 percent of the world’s Mo-99 needs.
Mo-99 is used to produce Tc-99m, a radioisotope used in over 80 percent of diagnostic nuclear medical procedure worldwide.
Supplies of Mo-99 have been hit because of the shutdown for maintenance and repairs of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s National Research Universal Reactor and the High-Flux Reactor at Petten in the Netherlands.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Reactor Operators Investigate Ways To Solve Isotope Supply Problems (News No. 63, 21 September 2009)
Planning The Future Of Global Medical Isotope Supply (Insider No. 6, 1 December 2009)
