The global market for radioactive materials used in medicine is at risk of experiencing a supply problem over the coming years, as a limited number of aging reactors that produce them will have to cope with increasing demand worldwide. The existing fleet of research reactors worldwide is aging fast. Two-thirds of them are already over 40 years old.
The issue recently came to the fore as the simultaneous outages of three medical isotope production facilities in Europe resulted in the global shortage of technetium 99m, a radioisotope used in some 80 per cent of all nuclear medicine procedures in the world. The reliance on a limited number of research reactors and, specifically, the age of these reactors is closely linked to the issue of the global shortage of medical isotopes and could lead to serious consequences, says Ed Bradley, a nuclear engineer from the IAEA Research Reactors Group in the Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology.
Bradley says that the IAEA’s aim is to make sure that practical advice is made available to operators to help ensure facilities operate to produce medical isotopes as required. IAEA experts continue to work on issues specific to aging research reactors and how to extend their operational life.
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