GTRI’S EFFORTS TO MINIMIZE THE USE OF HIGHLY ENRICHED URANIUM IN MEDICAL ISOTOPE PRODUCTION

As part of its nuclear nonproliferation mission, the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration’s Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) is working to develop a sustainable means for producing critical medical isotopes, such as molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), without using highly enriched uranium (HEU). This program is a critical part of GTRI’s global effort to reduce the risk posed by vulnerable civilian nuclear and radiological materials that could be used by terrorists to make an improvised nuclear device or a radiological dispersal device. GTRI works to develop and implement technologies to minimize and, to the extent possible, eliminate the civilian use of HEU, including in research reactors and isotope production facilities. This paper describes efforts to convert the existing medical isotope producers’ production processes to the use of low enriched uranium. This paper also discusses GTRI’s role in providing support to the U.S. private sector to accelerate the establishment of a reliable long- term domestic Mo-99 production capability without the use of HEU.