“I remember two months ago, in Geneva, we said, ‘Please be careful during this particular week because there is a risk of a shortage if there is a problem with one of the operating reactors.’ And that’s exactly what happened,” David Cournell recalled. , spokesperson for the industry association Nuclear Medicine Europe (NMEU).
Due to their nature, these radioactive materials cannot be stockpiled; they are ephemeral. Technetium-99m acts as a radioactive tracer as it emits gamma rays with a photon energy of 140 KeV when it decays. This is “pretty ideal” for detection using gamma-ray cameras, said Kathy Cutler, director of isotope research and production at Brookhaven National Laboratory in the US.
However, technetium-99m has a very short half-life of only about 6 hours. That’s why radioisotope manufacturing facilities send small generators containing molybdenum-99 to hospitals. These generators, also known as “molybdenum cows”, produce the necessary technetium-99m as the molybdenum-99 decays. It’s similar to a portable vending machine with technetium-99m, but once the molybdenum-99 completely breaks down, it runs out in about two weeks. Decayed.
Glenn Flax, head of radioisotope physics at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital and Institute of Cancer Research, says technetium-99m scans differ from, say, CT or MRI scans because they don’t know which organs or tumors are in the patient. The purpose of this study is to clarify how changes occur. For example, it works by revealing blood flow to problem areas.
“CT shows whether there is a tumor, but technetium and other isotopes show if the tumor is active or invasive,” Flux explains.
Stephen Harden, vice chair of clinical radiology at the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), estimates that the recent radioisotope shortage has led to thousands of canceled appointments in the UK alone. Medical staff have begun action to distribute remaining radioisotope supplies across the UK to ensure the most urgent patients, including those with cancer, can access tests. “If we didn’t have a nationally coordinated policy, there would be no supply at all in large parts of the country,” Harden said.
NMEU’s Kurnell and his colleagues continue to monitor medical radioisotope production at major nuclear reactors around the world. Since the NMEU knows maintenance schedules in advance, the NMEU may advise reactor managers to push back these dates slightly, for example to minimize the risk of multiple outages occurring at the same time. It happens often. NMEU staff can use software like Reactor Maintenance Calendar to predict production levels. However, sometimes unexpected events occur, such as problems with Petten’s pipes.
(Tag translation) Science
