Re: Re[2]: Urgent Request for Medical Isotope

[David W Lee <lee_david_w@lanl.gov>]

I certainly would like to endorse your efforts to have DOE come to its
senses re production of the medical radioisotopes that you have noted in
your e-mail and draft letter.  As the former Director of the Omega West
Reactor at Los Alamos, I share in your concern for their irresponsible
behavior over the last term of the Secretary of Energy to support the
medical radioisotope production role that they currently have.  Because they
are the only department in the US that is equipped to produce isotopes with
reactors such as FFTF, they have a social and moral responsibility to do so
until an orderly transition can be made to commercialize this role.

I will add only one comment that should be considered mine and mine alone
with respect to WHY DOE may be moving forward in their current path.  As you
recall, Sec. O'Leary hired Terry Lash, a well-known anti-nuclear activist
and intervenor to run what is now the Office of Nuclear Energy and Space for
the sake of providing a "balanced view" on new nuclear research.  Since his
appointment, the HTGR effort has been shut down, the Omega West reactor was
shut down for non-technical reasons, the ACRR has been selected to produce
Mo-99 (something that they have been set up to fail at because of reasons
such the lack of a radioactive refuse site at SNLA and a lack of processing
facilities), and now FFTF is being threatened to be shut down.  Therefore I
can only help but conclude that Mr. Lash has been extremely successful in
carrying out his own personal agenda and that he will be able to claim
success under the guise of "managing the future of nuclear research" at the DOE.

Sincerely,
Antonio (Tony) Andrade, PhD
Los Alamos National Laboratory



At 01:11 PM 22-11-96 -0600, you wrote:
>     MIPP is the Medical Isotope Production Project
>     
>     DOE made the decision to produce medical isotopes (Mo-99) in NM rather 
>     than at any of the other sites that were considered, which included: 
>     target irradiation at ORNL's Oak Ridge Research Reactor with target 
>     fabrication and isotope separations at their Radioisotope Development 
>     Lab; and irradiation at INEL's Power Burst Facility with target 
>     fabrication and isotope separations at the Test Area North.
>     
>     DOE identified the Annular Core Research Reactor at SNL/NM and the 
>     Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Facility at LANL as the preferred 
>     facilities for the production of Mo-99.
>     
>     Ernest Antonio
>     Research Scientist
>     Pacific Northwest National Lab.
>     ej_antonio@pnl.gov
>
>
>______________________________ Reply Separator
_________________________________
>Subject: Re: Urgent Request for Medical Isotope
>Author:  JMUCKERHEIDE@delphi.com at -SMTPlink
>Date:    11/22/96 10:11 AM
>
>
>Please explain.
>     
>> MIPP is not dead.
>>
>> DOE decided to go to New Mexico rather than Idaho. 
>>
>> Bill Pitchford
>> Radiation Protection Facility
>> Arizona State University
>> Tempe, Arizona 85287-3501
>     
>Thanks.
>     
>Regards, Jim Muckerheide
>jmuckerheide@delphi.com
>
>
David W. Lee
Radiation Protection Policy
& Programs Analysis Group (ESH-12)
Los Alamos National Laboratory
PO Box 1663, MS K483
Los Alamos, NM  87545
Ph:  (505) 667-8085
FAX: (505) 667-9726