NorthStar Medical technologies, Beloit, Wis., inked a $37-million cooperative agreement with the National Nuclear Security Administration to produce the medical isotope Molybdenum-99, the semi-autonomous Department of Energy agency announced Aug. 27.
NorthStar, which had to put up matching funds to get the $37 million from the agency, will use the cash to produce the isotope domestically without relying on highly enriched uranium — a bomb-usable material that represents a potential proliferation risk.
NorthStar in 2018 produced Molybdenum-99 by irradiating a Molybdenum-98 target. The company had trended ahead of the competition in the medical imaging space, in recent years.
Molybdenum-99 decays into Technetium-99, which is widely used for medical imaging that can aid with diagnoses of different illnesses.
The National Nuclear Security Administration has been planting seed money for domestic Molybdenum-99 in recent years and had spent the better part of $200 million as of fiscal year 2020.