Wisconsin-based radioactive isotope production company, SHINE Technologies, has entered into a $35 million cooperative agreement with the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration to support the production of critical isotope, molybdenum-99 for use in diagnosing heart disease and cancer, among other medical procedures.
Under the agreement, SHINE Technologies will help the NNSA establish a Mo-99 supply that is produced domestically and without highly enriched uranium (HEU), which is known to present proliferation concerns, the agency said Tuesday.
DOE Under Secretary for Nuclear Security and NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby called the agreement a “triple win” for the U.S. in the enhanced implementation of Mo-99 in medical advancements.
Hruby explained, “NNSA’s continued partnership with SHINE will help ensure that doctors and patients get the medical isotopes they need, that those isotopes are produced without the use of proliferation-sensitive HEU, and that the work gets done here in the United States.”
NNSA’s Mo-99 program, established in 2012 and managed by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, works to prevent the development of nuclear weapons via potentially stolen or diverted HEU by state and non-state actors.
Greg Piefer, CEO and chairman of SHINE, said the company looks forward to supporting NNSA’s Mo-99 program as they collaborate to “improve the lives of millions of patients and make the world safer through the elimination of highly enriched uranium anywhere in the supply chain.”
This agreement marks the third of four issued under NNSA’s recent Funding Opportunity Announcement in July 2020.