[ RadSafe ] " House Committee Passes Bill to Create USIsotopeSupply "

[K. L. McMahan]

Here are a few articles with more information, particularly the third (most
recent) one:

Source:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/46425/title/Isotope_crisis_threat
ens_medical_care____
Friday, August 14th, 2009 
Isotope crisis threatens medical care 

"... Concerned about the potential for catastrophic supply disruptions of
this medical isotope, the Obama administration earlier this year “started
plans to implement what we’re calling a long-term solution,” says Jean
Cottam in the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy. “We decided
it was time to move forward, as quickly as we could, to establish domestic
production capabilities.” "

Source:  http://www.nnsa.energy.gov/news/2517.htm 
September 9, 2009
Testimony before the House Energy and Environment Subcommittee on "Solving
the Medical Isotope Shortage
Dr. Parrish Staples, NNSA Director of European and African Threat Reduction 

"... An Inter-agency Working Group led by Office of Science and Technology
Policy in the Executive Office of the President has been established and has
identified several options that could result in stabilizing a reduced supply
of Mo-99 in 2010 for use by the medical community until a permanent non-HEU
supply infrastructure is established for domestic production capabilities."

"... For our part, NNSA is currently developing projects to accelerate the
establishment of domestic commercial sources of Mo-99 without the use of
HEU.  NNSA is working on several Cooperative Agreements to potential
commercial Mo-99 producers, whose projects are in the most advanced stages
of development, accelerating their efforts to begin producing Mo-99 in
quantities adequate to the U.S. medical community’s demand by the end of
2013. These commercial producers each use a different non-HEU technology, in
support of our strategy to diversify the supply chain and move away from
reliance on a sole technology and a limited number of facilities ...."

Source:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/feature/id/47185/title/Desperately_Seeking_M
oly
September 26th, 2009; Vol.176 #7 (p. 16) 
Unreliable supplies of feedstock for widely used medical imaging isotope
prompt efforts to develop U.S. sources

... The easiest way to spur domestic isotope production, Cottam says, would
be to take existing targets from Chalk River, irradiate them in a similar
facility and then send those irradiated targets back to Canada to have their
moly extracted.... At least a few reactors in the United States, such as the
University of Missouri Research Reactor, known as MURR, and the High Flux
Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, are good
candidates for irradiating Canadian targets.... But licensing those
facilities to irradiate targets and to send them to and from Canada might
take six months ...." [The article goes on to discuss several long term
solutions, including modifications at MURR, a B&W design in progress (using
targets containing less than 20 percent uranium-235), accelerator-based
production and other conceptual solutions.]

Kim McMahan
ORNL External Dosimetry 

-----Original Message-----
From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl] On Behalf
Of Edmond Baratta
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 1:53 PM
To: Franta, Jaroslav; Radsafe (E-mail)
Subject: Re: [ RadSafe ] " House Committee Passes Bill to Create
USIsotopeSupply "

One wonders how they are going to produce the Mo-99 from an without the use 
of enriched uranium?   The earlier method was from neutron actived Mo, which

resulted in a lot of waste.  Where are they going to find a Reactor to
produce it.  It appears that the House in its usual short sightedness has
struck again.

Ed Baratta

edmond0033 at comcast.net

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj at aecl.ca>
Sent: Monday, October 26, 2009 12:05 PM
To: "Radsafe (E-mail)" <radsafe at radlab.nl>
Subject: [ RadSafe ] " House Committee Passes Bill to Create US
IsotopeSupply "

> UNRESTRICTED | ILLIMITÉ
>
> Gee.....  one wonders why they didn't simply keep FFTF in operation - 
> retasked to meds production ??
>
> Jaro
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
>
> House Committee Passes Bill to Create US Isotope Supply Device & 
> Diagnostic Letter Vol. 36, No. 42
> 26 October 2009
>
> To head off future shortages of the most commonly used diagnostic 
> radioisotope, a House committee has passed a bill to create a steady 
> domestic supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99).
>
> The American Medical Isotopes Production Act, H.R. 3276, gives the 
> Energy Department the authority and funding to help the private sector 
> establish a U.S. supply of Mo-99 without using highly enriched 
> uranium, according to a statement from the House Energy and Commerce
Committee.
> <SNIP>
>
> <SNIP>
> If passed, the House bill could help advance two private projects 
> already in the works, Matmuller said, as it includes a $163 million 
> provision to support domestic production of the isotope (D&DL, Sept. 14).
>
> In February, Covidien signed an agreement with Babcock & Wilcox to 
> develop technology to manufacture Mo-99 in the U.S. When complete, the 
> collaboration could supply more than 50 percent of the U.S. demand for 
> the radioisotope (D&DL, Feb. 2). Last year, Advanced Medical Isotope 
> signed an agreement with the University of Missouri Research Reactor 
> Center to develop the isotope.
>
> Neither of these projects has applied to formally begin the regulatory 
> approval process, Robert Lewis, director of NRC's Division of 
> Materials Safety and State Agreements, said.
>
> In related news, the NRC also has noticed a shortage of another 
> prominent medical isotope, iodine-131, Matmuller said.
> <SNIP>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> CONFIDENTIAL AND PRIVILEGED INFORMATION NOTICE
>
> This e-mail, and any attachments, may contain information that is 
> confidential, subject to copyright, or exempt from disclosure.
> Any unauthorized review, disclosure, retransmission, dissemination or 
> other use of or reliance on this information may be unlawful and is 
> strictly prohibited.
>
> AVIS D'INFORMATION CONFIDENTIELLE ET PRIVILÉGIÉE
>
> Le présent courriel, et toute pièce jointe, peut contenir de 
> l'information qui est confidentielle, régie par les droits d'auteur, 
> ou interdite de divulgation. Tout examen, divulgation, retransmission, 
> diffusion ou autres utilisations non autorisées de l'information ou 
> dépendance non autorisée envers celle-ci peut être illégale et est 
> strictement interdite.
>
> _______________________________________________
> You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list
>
> Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and 
> understood the RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
> http://radlab.nl/radsafe/radsaferules.html
>
> For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings
> visit: http://radlab.nl/radsafe/
> 

_______________________________________________
You are currently subscribed to the RadSafe mailing list

Before posting a message to RadSafe be sure to have read and understood the
RadSafe rules. These can be found at:
http://radlab.nl/radsafe/radsaferules.html

For information on how to subscribe or unsubscribe and other settings visit:
http://radlab.nl/radsafe/