The High-Flux Reactor (HFR) in Petten, the Netherlands, has reopened after scheduled maintenance and downstream suppliers expect to receive shipments of molybdenum-99. The parent isotope will be used for the subsequent production of technetium-99m (Tc 99m), the radiopharmaceutical used in over 80 percent of nuclear imaging procedures. The medical isotope has been scarce worldwide since the May 2009 closure of the Canadian NRU reactor in Chalk River, Ontario.

After recent news that the NRU reactor would be shut down until first quarter 2010, downstream suppliers of Technetium-99M and professionals in the field of nuclear medicine are greatly relieved to hear that the Petten reactor is back in production and will resume supplying the vast majority of U.S. demand for the isotope.

"I think it's a tremendous piece of good news for a change that this reactor has come back online and so quickly, as projected by the group operating it in the Netherlands," said Dr. Jeffrey Norenberg, executive director of the National Association of Nuclear Pharmacies and a member of the board of the Society of Nuclear Medicine. "[The Petten reactor] provides meaningful supply to the U.S.-- it doesn't completely solve our problem, but it's a whole lot better than it was a week ago."
In addition to the HFR reactor in Petten, other reactors are online and involved in the global supply of the isotope. These reactors are the BR2 in Belgium, the Osiris reactor in France, the Safari in South Africa; and now the OPAL in Australia is just coming online. These reactors may provide a small percentage of U.S. demand for molybdenum, but not a substantial amount. When the Chalk River Facility was running, the Dutch reactor provided about 30 percent of the world's supply, but now that the Canadian facility is scheduled to remain closed until next year, the HFR's role in U.S. supply just became a lot more important.

"In a practical sense, the majority if not all of the Molybdenum that comes into the U.S. and is reaching its point of use is now coming from the Netherlands and HFR," Dr. Norenberg told DOTmed News.

Covidien is a downstream supplier of Tc 99m-based imaging agents and provides roughly half of U.S. generators. Vice President of U.S. Commercial Operations John Collins announced to the company's customers in a statement August 18 that Molybdenum-99 supply from the Petten reactor, which accounts for the majority of the company's supply, would begin arriving this weekend and production of Tc 99m generators is scheduled to begin next week.

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