Niowave, Lansing, Mich., will get $13 million from the National Nuclear Security Administration, under a cooperative agreement, to support domestic production of the Molybdenum-99 medical isotope, the agency announced Dec. 3.
This is the fourth and final round of congressionally mandated funding established by law in 2012 as part of the federal government’s efforts to establish a domestic supply of Molybdenum-99, without using highly enriched uranium to produce the isotope.
“This cooperative agreement will enable Niowave to scale up their innovative Mo-99 production technology and bring it to market,” Jill Hruby, administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) said in a press release.
Shine Technologies, Janesville, Wis., nabbed the previous round of Mo-99 funding in October.
Mo-99 is the parent isotope of technetium-99, a gamma-emitter used for medical imaging. Most Mo-99 has come from foreign sources that produce the isotope using highly enriched uranium. The trade has been lucrative and the Department of Energy is weighing whether to keep the international market available until there is a reliable, highly-enriched-uranium-free, domestic supply.
The Secretary of Energy can keep the Mo-99 export trade going until 2026, under current law, and must decide by Jan. 2 whether to certify that the trade should continue.
