Ensuring U.S. Medical Isotope Supply and Minimizing Risks of Nuclear Terrorism
Date: 06 October 2008
Location:
Noon - 2:00 PM
Senate Dirksen Office Building
Room G11
Washington, DC
Sponsored by:
AAAS Center for Science, Technology and Security Policy
The U.S. supply of vital medical isotopes is under threat, as evidenced by the current shortages that are delaying thousands of medical procedures. The main problem is that the U.S. has no domestic production capacity for the most important radiopharmaceutical, Tc-99m, and so must import 100% of our needs-- 19 million doses each year. Four foreign companies manufacture 95% of the world's supply, using aging nuclear reactors that increasingly suffer outages. Moreover, they employ highly enriched uranium (HEU) in the process -- the material that a terrorist would need to make a nuclear bomb. This briefing focuses on the danger to patients from inadequate supplies of Tc-99m, how U.S. law affects reliability of supply and production methods, and ways to reduce the risk of nuclear terrorism while increasing the domestic supply of isotopes. The speakers will outline two projects for the establishment of Tc-99m production in the United States that do not employ bomb-grade uranium.
Andrew Einstein, "Why America Needs Technetium-99m." His talk will address the importance of technetium-99m for treatment and especially diagnosis of a wide spectrum of medical conditions, ranging from coronary heart disease to cancer, as well as the fragility and unsustainability of our current supply chain.
Alan Kuperman, "Legislation to Reduce Bomb-Grade Uranium Commerce: Background and Options." His focus will be the legislative history -- Schumer, Burr, NAS, and the legislative options: funding domestic production, repealing Burr, preferences for LEU-produced Moly-99.
Cristina Hansell, "Highly Enriched Uranium and Nuclear Terrorism Risks" -- chiefly focusing on the risks posed by HEU, particularly HEU used for radioisotope production, as well as the linkage between US policy on HEU exports for medical isotope production and success in achieving the US HEU minimization goal worldwide.
Please RSVP online.
Related Links:
Dr. Andrew Einstein's presentation
Christina Hansell's presentation
Dr. Alan Kuperman's presentation
Summary of event from Global Security Newswire
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