Technetium

Technetium as it is known is a gamma emitting isotope that finds as its main purpose, as being an element that can be used for processing images for nuclear medical purposes.

However the problem that had been occurring for a long time was the shortage of the element. Molybdenum 99 as you must know is the mother supplying element for Technetium 99 which decays and through a generator or a similar device the Technetium 99 is extracted. However, through a shortage of the availability of Molybdenum there was a growing fear of the complete shortage of Technetium 99 as well and its main importance lies in the increasing help that the element provides in several areas of nuclear medicine.

However, good news is that many places and research laboratories from around eth world have started working on ways by which the steady flow and supply of Molybdenum and thus the supply of such medical isotopes as Technetium 99 can also be maintained. The most recent development in this area was in Netherlands where a Dutch power company has started and has gone pretty ahead in its progress in a project that will help maintain this steady supply of Technetium and other such medical isotopes as well. The biggest fear for America right now would be the fact that in less than ten years, the High Flux Reactor which has been the lifeline for the supply of such pharmaceutical isotopes and largely technetium runs out of supply and goes offline.

This Dutch Company is NRG (Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group) claims that not only have they begun work on a new power supplying reactor but that the project has nearly been completed. This Nuclear reactor for the supply of Technetium that they are building is supposed to be called Pallas; named after the Greek Goddess of Wisdom- Pallas Athena.

The High Flux Reactor that is the current source of all medical isotopes including Technetium is also incidentally located in Netherlands and is actually under the management of NRG itself. However, this High Flux Reactor is actually quite old and is aging and will soon be of no use, the expected time that the reactor would go offline is 2015 so NRG has that year as its deadline. So the radioactive shortage that the country now fears of Molybdenum 99 and in turn its daughter isotope technetium 99 should be taken care of with the construction of this new nuclear power reactor. SPECT and bone scanning and many other critical medical procedures rely very heavily on the use of these isotopes.

However, Pallas cannot really be ready for use any time before the year end of 2016, at least for commercial use. This is mainly because in order for such kind of project like a nuclear reactor being in function to start its commercial business within the country would first need the approval of eth Dutch government and go through several other procedures before it can actually be ready for running.