Agreement Aims To Boost Europe’s Long-Term Radioisotope Supply
Written by NucNet
Friday, 03 September 2010
Three organisations involved in the production and supply of radioisotopes have signed an agreement they hope will help assure the long-term supply of technetium-99m (Tc-99m), which is used in about eight million medical procedures a year in Europe.
The agreement was signed between the IBA (Ion Beam Applications, Belgium), the IRE (National Institute of Radioelements, Belgium) and France’s Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, CEA).
Renaud Dehareng, chief operating officer at IBA, said the agreement would “restrict the uncertainty” surrounding Tc-99m supply.
In a joint statement the three organisations said the agreement covers the whole Tc-99m supply chain, from production to distribution. Production is scheduled to begin in 2015.
The statement outlined the planned production process. It said the CEA will be responsible for the irradiation of highly enriched uranium targets in its research reactor. IRE will extract the molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which is used to produce Tc-99m, and IBA will produce and distribute the Tc-99m generators to hospitals.
Tc-99m is used about 40 million times annually worldwide for cancer treatment and the diagnosis of heart attacks.
The partnership will use equipment that has been newly brought into service or is in the course of development. The CEA will use its new research reactor, the Jules Horowitz reactor which is under construction at Cadarache in France. IRE will use a renovated plant at Fleurus in Belgium and IBA will use new equipment to be installed at a plant in Saclay, France.
Five research reactors produce 95 percent of global Mo-99 supply: the High-Flux Reactor (HFR) at Petten in the Netherlands, BR2 in Belgium, Osiris in France, Safari in South Africa and the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Canada.
Supplies of Mo-99 have been hit because of the shutdown for maintenance and repairs of both the NRU and the HFR. Production resumed in Canada last month, but the HFR at Petten is still offline.
A new reactor called Pallas is planned to replace the HFR, which has been in operation since 1961 and is reaching the end of its economic life.
