Developing the Sandia National Laboratories Transportation Infrastructure for Isotope Products and Wastes·

Certain radioactive isotopes for North American and especially the United States' needs are enormously important to the medical community and their numerous patients. The most important medical isotope is ~o, which is currently manufactured by Nordion International Inc. in a single, aging reactor operated by Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd. The reactor's useful life is expected to end at the tum of the century. Production loss because of reactor shutdown possibilities prompted the U.S. Congress to direct the DOE to provide for a U.S. backup source for this crucial isotope. The SNL Annular Core Research Reactor (ACRR) was evaluated as a site to provide 99Mo initially and other isotopes that can be economically extracted from the process. Medical isotope production at SNL is a new venture in manufacturing. Should SNL be selected and the project reach the manufacturing stage, SNL would expect to service up to 30% of the U.S. market under normal circumstances as a backup to the Canadian supply with the capability to service 100% should the need arise. The demand for 99Mo increases each year; hence, the proposed action accommodates growth in demand to meet this increase. The proposed project would guarantee the supply of medical isotopes would continue if either the irradiation or processing activities in Canada were interrupted.