Company will use reactor concept optimised for high-yield production
US-based Eden Radioisotopes has filed a construction permit application with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an isotope production complex near Eunice, New Mexico.
This purpose-built facility is designed to produce a domestic source of life-saving medical isotopes – something currently unavailable at scale in the US.
The company proposes to use a small, nonpower, open-pool reactor design that is optimised for high-yield isotope production. The reactor will use low-enriched uranium and operate at 1.8 MWt. Eden expects to operate it for 22 hours per day, using the downtime to replace targets.
Eden will use an “all-target” reactor concept exclusively licensed from Sandia National Laboratories and optimised for high-yield isotope production. The company said the technology generates no spent fuel, and with a co-located processing facility, improves the domestic supply of isotopes for US patients.
According to Eden’s NRC regulatory engagement plan, the new facility will produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), iodine-131 (I-131), and xenon-133 (Xe-133) through the fission process and other isotopes, such as lutetium-177 (Lu-177), through neutron activation.
When approved, the Eden facility will be positioned to deliver up to 50% of global demand for Mo-99, the isotope behind more than 40,000 diagnostic imaging procedures performed in the US each day. It would also be a key producer of more than 3.5 million annual doses of isotopes such as Lu-177, an advanced form of targeted cancer treatment.
The US imports 100% of its Mo-99 from aging foreign reactors. Because medical isotopes decay within hours or days of production, they cannot be stockpiled. Any disruption outside of the US can result in immediate cancellation of patient procedures domestically.
Eden said in a statement that the shortage has drawn federal attention. Congress passed the 2012 American Medical Isotope Production Act, which promotes the development of a reliable domestic supply. However, more than a decade later, the US still lacks sufficient domestic production capacity for both diagnostic and therapeutic isotopes.
“For decades, the American medical system has operated at the mercy of a fragile, foreign-dependent supply chain,” said Eden chief executive officer Carrie Freeman. “Eden will permanently reshore this capability – establishing a domestic supply of Mo-99 and Lu-177 and bringing proven nuclear technology directly to the fight against cancer and heart disease.”
