The Senate has now held hearings on the issue of shortages in the medical isotope Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) and the domestic production of Mo-99 through low enriched uranium (LEU). The hearings are for consideration of H.R. 3276, the American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009. The House of Representatives held hearings earlier this year and passed H.R. 3276. (See, DM 10258, 10688).

Testifying in the Senate hearing was Dr. Parrish Staples, Director, Office of European and African Threat Reduction, Global Threat Reduction Initiative, National Nuclear Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. Dr. Staples discussed the National Nuclear Security Administration's (NNSA) efforts to minimize and eliminate the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in civilian nuclear applications, including in the production of medical radioisotopes. Dr. Staples stated his support of H.R. 3276, especially in light of the NNSA's continuing effort to address the impact of current and future Mo-99 shortages and the ongoing efforts to establish a domestic commercial supply of Mo-99 without HEU.

Dr. Parish recounted that the U.S. now depends entirely on foreign supply of Mo-99, and these producers use HEU to produce the isotope. One of the problems the U.S. government has been concerned about has been the risk of HEU being obtained by terrorists or rogue states. However, Dr. Parish pointed out, new technical advances in Mo-99 production are indicating that HEU is no longer necessary for Mo-99 production.

H.R. 3276 will provide measures to address the critical need for developing a domestic Mo-99 source, Parish said, in addition to reducing HEU availability globally and maintaining a high standard of patient care in the U.S. Parish concluded by noting challenges that may affect developing the technologies, including extracting the final medical product to meet FDA standards, and production on a commercial scale to meet medical needs.

The next witness was Kevin D. Crowley, Ph.D., Senior Board Director of the Nuclear and Radiation Studies Board, National Research Council (NRC). Dr. Crowley spoke about the 2008 NRC study on medical isotope production without highly enriched uranium. Dr. Crowley affirmed that currently an insufficient quantity of medical isotopes are produced without HEU to meet U.S. domestic needs. However, Crowley stated that the NRC found no technical reason that adequate quantities could not be produced using LEU targets.

The NRC found that the domestic demand for Mo-99 is growing and will continue to grow with the aging of the U.S. population and new application of nuclear medicine technologies. The growth rate will impact the supply and price further. Crowley described how the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is leading the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) in efforts to convert reactor fuel and targets from HEU to LEU and had made substantial progress.

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