DOE Contacts to Convert Legacy Material into Anti-cancer Source

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

I received this through another list server and

thought I would pass it along.



----------

US Department of Energy

Press Room

Press Release

October 9, 2003



 DOE Awards Contract To Convert Defense Legacy

Material

             Into Weapon Against Cancer



 Supply Of Medical Isotopes to be Increased for

Clinical Trials and Cancer Treatment



 WASHINGTON, DC - As part of an initiative to clean up

Cold War legacy sites, Secretary of Energy Spencer

Abraham announced today that the Department of Energy

(DOE) will award a contract to Isotek Systems, LLC, in

Oak Ridge, Tenn., to down blend enriched uranium-233

and extract isotopes that show great promise in the

treatment of deadly cancers. The contract's total

estimated cost is approximately $128 million dollars

over an estimated nine-year period.



 "DOE has an important responsibility to clean up the 

legacies from the Cold War," Secretary of Energy

Spencer Abraham said. "That we can fulfill this

mission while producing valuable new tools in the

fight against cancer is an exciting and unique

opportunity."



 Isotek Systems is a limited liability corporation

formed by Duratek Federal Services, Inc., Nuclear Fuel

Services, Inc., and Burns and Roe Enterprises, Inc.

Additionally, DOE's Pacific Northwest National

Laboratory (PNNL), through a Cooperative Research and

Development Agreement, and Theragenics, Inc., will

partner with Isotek to produce and deliver the

isotopes.



 For more than 30 years, DOE's Oak Ridge National

Laboratory has stored more than 1,200 containers of

enriched uranium-233, originally produced at the

department's former defense nuclear materials

production plants. This uranium, which requires

expensive security, safety and environmental controls,

has been stored at a laboratory facility, Building

3019, that dates back to the Manhattan Project.



 The contract award announced today calls for

extraction of thorium-229 during the down blending

process. The thorium will be used by Isotek's partner,

Theragenics, Inc., to extract actinium-225 and supply

its daughter product, bismuth-213, for ongoing cancer

research, including Phase II clinical trials for

treatment of acute myologenous leukemia. PNNL will

work with Theragenics on research and development that

can optimize the actinium extraction process.



 Production of actinium, including research and

development, is a private venture at no cost to the

government.



 These isotopes are also being explored for treatment

of other serious cancers of the lungs, pancreas, and

kidneys. As part of the treatment, the isotopes are

bound to monoclonal antibodies that attack the cancer

while minimizing the impact to surrounding tissue.

Over the past five years, the department has provided

modest quantities of actinium-225 for cancer research.

This project will significantly increase supply.



 DOE has developed a three-phased approach to complete

this initiative. The base contract award is for Phase

I, Planning and Design. Phases II and III, Project

Implementation and Shutdown of the Building 3019

Complex, are contract options that may be unilaterally

exercised by the department.



 Additional information on the department's isotope

program may be found on the department's nuclear

energy web site,

		http://www.nuclear.gov



 Media Contact(s):



	Hope Williams, 202/586-5806



 Number:



	R-03-232





----------

The above may be viewed on the Web at:





http://www.energy.gov/engine/content.do?PUBLIC_ID=14288&BT_CODE=PR_PRESSRELEASES&TT_CODE=PRESSRELEASE







=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"It had been understood by Cleon, who, in the fifth century B.C., had reminded the citizens of another imperial power, Athens, that 'a democracy is incapable of empire.'"

James Lawrence, during the War of 1812



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



__________________________________

Do you Yahoo!?

The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search

http://shopping.yahoo.com

************************************************************************

You are currently subscribed to the Radsafe mailing list. To

unsubscribe, send an e-mail to Majordomo@list.vanderbilt.edu  Put the

text "unsubscribe radsafe" (no quote marks) in the body of the e-mail,

with no subject line. You can view the Radsafe archives at

http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/