NNSA issues Mo-99 cooperative agreement to Niowave

This is the fourth and final agreement to be issued under the NNSA’s July 2020 funding opportunity announcement to foster commercial-scale domestic production of Mo-99 without the use of high-enriched uranium. Earlier this year, the NNSA awarded two agreements worth a total of $37 million to NorthStar Medical Technologies and one agreement worth $35 million to SHINE Technologies. Both companies are based in south-central Wisconsin.

The NNSA funding is intended to support the production of at least 1,500 six-day curies of Mo-99 per week by December 31, 2023, and the capacity to increase production to 3,000 six-day curies per week.

She said it: “This cooperative agreement will enable Niowave to scale up their innovative Mo-99 production technology and bring it to market,” said Jill Hruby, the DOE’s undersecretary for nuclear security and NNSA administrator. “Today’s award is another step toward establishing a diverse and resilient production base here in the United States for this important medical isotope.”

Background: In 2012, Congress directed the NNSA to establish a program to support the development of commercial domestic production of Mo-99 without the use of HEU. NNSA implements this requirement through its Mo-99 program, managed by the Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation, which works globally to prevent state and non-state actors from developing nuclear weapons or acquiring weapons-usable nuclear or radiological materials, equipment, technology, and expertise.

The Mo-99 program has worked cooperatively with U.S. industry partners, securing agreements to share the cost of establishing domestic Mo-99 production without the use of HEU and providing funds to the DOE’s national laboratories in support of those efforts.