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Advances in emerging field of ‘theranostics’ are a game-changer Millions of patients around the globe rely on the regular and timely production of diagnostic and therapeutic isotopes produced in research reactors and accelerator facilities. Image courtesy IAEA. Advances in medical isotope diagnostics and therapy are holding promise for cancer patients, despite challenges facing the nuclear medical field in recent years related to radionuclide production and supply, rising costs, and stricter regulation.

Medical isotopes are radioactive substances used in various diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to treat various types of cancers and other conditions. They are essential for modern medicine, allowing physicians to visualise and target specific organs, tissues and cells in a patient’s body.

Over more than a decade, personalised medicine using nuclear techniques has been gaining pace, allowing doctors to tailor therapies and treatments to the specific needs and physiology of a patient, and to avoid harm to healthy organs or tissues.

According to Sven Van den Berghe, chief executive of Belgium-based isotope producer PanTera, one technique that has seen significant advances is known as theranostics – the term used to describe the combination of using one radioactive drug to diagnose and a second to deliver therapy to treat the main tumour and any metastatic tumours.

Date: Friday, 14 April 2023
Original article: nucnet.org/news/sector-aims-to-tackle-isotope-supply-problems-as-excitement-grows-over-targeted-therapies-4-4-2023

The high flux research reactor at Petten in the Netherlands. Courtesy NRG. US-based Terrestrial Energy and the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) have started a graphite irradiation testing programme for the Integral Molten Salt Reactor power plant at NRG’s high flux research reactor (HFR) at Petten in the Netherlands.

The work is part of broader programme of testing of components and systems for the IMSR plant, which uses Generation IV reactor technology for electric power generation and heat for industrial heat applications.

The testing programme at the HFR, one of the most powerful multi-purpose research and test reactors in the world, is designed to confirm the predicted performance of selected graphite grades throughout the seven-year cycle of the IMSR core-unit.

The testing will simulate IMSR core conditions, encompassing the full range of IMSR operating temperatures and of the neutron flux. NRG said the HFR has reached full power indicating the successful start of the test programme.

Date: Saturday, 14 November 2020
Original article: nucnet.org/news/terrestrial-energy-and-nrg-begin-graphite-irradiation-testing-at-petten-11-5-2020

A campaign to move used highly enriched uranium (HEU) fuel from Canada to the USA, which began in 2015, has been completed a year ahead of schedule, the US Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) have announced.

Date: Friday, 14 February 2020
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Canada,-USA-complete-used-fuel-return

Canada’s Saskatchewan Research Council has announced that its Safe Low Power Kritical Experiment (Slowpoke) research reactor has been defuelled in preparation for its decommissioning, and the fuel has been transported to the USA without incident.

Date: Wednesday, 02 October 2019
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newssaskatchewan-slowpoke-reactor-ready-for-decommissioning-7431063

Ahead of its decommissioning, the low-enriched uranium fuel has been removed from the Saskatchewan Research Council's (SRC's) Slowpoke-2 research reactor in Saskatoon and transported to the USA.

Date: Saturday, 28 September 2019
Original article: world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Defuelling-completed-at-Canadian-research-reactor

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) announced on 2 April that isotope production reactor the National Research Universal (NRU) at the Chalk River site had been permanently shut down. It will now be placed into a "state of storage" prior to decommissioning. The reactor, which produced about 40% of world supply of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), ceased production in October 2016, since when it has remained on standby "in case of a significant shortage which could not be mitigated by other means". Research reactors in Australia, Europe, Russia and South Africa have since met demand.

Date: Friday, 06 April 2018
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newscanada-permanently-closes-nru-research-reactor-6107149

Candu Energy, a subsidiary of Canada's SNC-Lavalin, has been awarded a contract by the University of Alberta to lead decommissioning of its Safe Low Power Kritical Experiment (Slowpoke) research reactor. Under the "multi-million dollar" contract, which was awarded through a public procurement process, SNC-Lavalin will perform and manage the decommissioning work, including waste management. In addition to providing the necessary tooling, equipment and training for the work, SNC-Lavalin will also deliver project, training and support documentation. The Slowpoke research reactor design was developed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) in the 1960s. AECL's former Candu Reactor Division was sold to Candu Energy in 2011.

Date: Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsslowpoke-reactor-at-alberta-university-to-be-decommissioned-4862234


The US National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has removed the last 1kg of US-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) from Jamaica's Slowpoke research reactor and returned the material to the United States.

Date: Tuesday, 22 September 2015
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsjamaica-becomes-heu-free-4675949

Belgium's BR2 research reactor, which accounts for around a quarter of world production of medical isotope Mo-99 (Tc-99m), is due to close between March 2015 and July 2016 for modernisation work, the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, SCK-CEN, has confirmed.

Date: Tuesday, 20 May 2014
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsbr2-modernisation-set-for-march-2015-4272112

This week, delegates met at a meeting organised by the European Nuclear Society and the International Atomic Energy Agency to discuss the type of fuel used in research reactors and how to manage the ageing facilities.

Date: Friday, 26 March 2010
Original article: neimagazine.com/news/newsiaea-focuses-on-fuelling-of-research-reactors-