NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes announced yesterday that it’s adding a new filling line at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) production operations that will quadruple the company’s capacity to produce molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) — the parent isotope of technetium-99 (Tc-99m)
NorthStar and Von Gahlen International, a radiation shielding manufacturer, are working together to design and install the new system. When it’s complete, it will include a high-capacity DPharm unit to fill source vessels quickly along with companion hot cells for radiation containment.
In addition to increasing the dispensing capacity at MURR, the new filling line will also be able to prepare source vessels with Mo-99 generated from natural or enriched Mo-98 targets. The enriched targets have higher concentrations of Mo-98 and produce about three times more Mo-99 than natural targets.
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