NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes has completed construction and all equipment installation at its new facility in Beloit, Wisconsin, to produce the medical radioisotope molybdenum-99 without the use of highly enriched uranium. The U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration provided financial and technical support for this project. The completion of the facility will increase production of a vital medical radioisotope while reducing global nuclear proliferation risks.
Mo-99 is an isotope used in over 40,000 medical diagnostic procedures in the United States each day. For decades, the United States had no capability to produce Mo-99 domestically and relied entirely on imported material, most of which was previously produced using proliferation-sensitive HEU.
To reduce the risk of nuclear proliferation and terrorism, NNSA supports U.S. companies working to establish domestic production of Mo-99 without the use of HEU. In parallel, NNSA also works with international producers to help them convert their production processes to use low enriched uranium, a non-weapons-usable material, instead of HEU.
;
