Crucial radioisotope used in about 40 million diagnostic procedures every year
Next-generation fusion technology company Shine Technologies has been awarded $32m (€29m) from the US Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) as part of a drive to establish a reliable, US-produced supply of the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and ease chronic shortages.
The funds will go towards the construction of Chrysalis, Shine’s large-scale, medical radioisotope facility in Janesville, Wisconsin, the company said.
Upon its completion, Chrysalis will satisfy more than one-third of the world’s demand for Mo-99, Shine said.
The company, which is developing a method to produce radioisotopes using nuclear fusion, aims to produce Mo-99 commercially in early 2027.
Since 2010, the DOE/NNSA has awarded Shine a total of $114m towards the project.
Mo-99 is crucial in nuclear medicine, powering approximately 40 million diagnostic procedures every year which are used in diagnosing life-threatening diseases, including heart disease and cancer.
But current Mo-99 production is limited to only a handful of government-owned nuclear research reactors outside the US.
Given Mo-99’s half-life, about one-third of the product is lost during cross-continental transportation.
“Shine’s domestic production capabilities will provide a reliable supply chain to address chronic shortages of critical medicine,” the company said.
In 2022 Shine announced that its European subsidiary, Shine Europe, had secured funding to begin designing an advanced medical isotope production facility at Veendam in the northeast of the Netherlands.
Last year, Shine raised $70m in funding as part of its efforts to commercialise and scale-up near-term applications of fusion technology.
