The time span is only 66 hours. Within this period, the material must be taken from Garching to a clinic in Andalusia, Spain, before it expires. The radioactive material, which is in short supply throughout Europe, is called molybdenum-99 and can save lives because it is used in the diagnosis of cancer, for example. And in a few years, about half of the demand for molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) required throughout Europe can be covered in the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz (FRM II) of the Technical University of Munich in Garching.
The Bavarian Ministry of the Environment has now granted approval for this. To be more precise, for the operation of an irradiation system for so-called uranium targets, with which molybdenum-99 can be produced – and from the molybdenum-99, which decays within 66 hours, the isotope Techneticum-99m, in short: Tc-99m, which is most common in the nuclear medicine is used. For example, to examine the function of the thyroid gland or to detect damage to the lungs, heart, gallbladder or the skeletal system. According to the FRM II, around 30 million medical examinations are carried out every year worldwide with the radioactive substance Techneticum-99m, around three million of them in Germany alone.
Only four reactors in Europe can produce Mo-99
However, as explained by FRM II spokeswoman Anke Görg, Tc-99m can only be produced in four research reactors in Europe; if one of these reactors fails, there will be bottlenecks across Europe and vital investigations may have to be cancelled. In addition, the raw material molybdenum-99 cannot be produced in advance due to its short half-life of only 66 hours, but only directly before an examination is scheduled.
The research reactor in Garching, of all things, which has been criticized time and time again, is now supposed to eliminate the bottleneck in production. Although the reactor is currently at a standstill, there are plans to start it up again soon – and continue to do so with highly enriched uranium. The federal government had actually obliged the operator to convert the FRM II to lower-enriched uranium by 2010, which is technically possible. However, this period was extended by the federal and state governments in a later agreement, first to 2018 and later again to 2023 – then new research results should be available, on the basis of which a political decision should be made. The aim is for the TU to be able to apply for a conversion in 2025.
But now, according to the FRM II, the completion and commissioning of the production plant for the radioactive substance molybdenum-99 is to be built into the reactor in “the next few years”. And at the latest when the term “radioactive” is heard, the alarm bells should ring among all critics of the research reactor. FRM II spokeswoman Görg, however, reassured: The uranium plates required for production were low-enriched. “Less than 20 percent. That’s not worth discussing,” said Görg. And even one of the reactor’s biggest critics, Markus Büchler, member of the Greens’ state parliament from Oberschleißheim, emphasizes that the planned production of Mo-99 is “not a political issue”. “That’s actually not a problem for us, since the uranium is actually low-enriched and the amounts are only small,” says Büchler.
Markus Büchler, Member of Parliament for the Greens, sees no problem in the production of the radioactive substance molybdenum-99 in Garching.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
But Büchler also makes it clear that the obviously necessary production of the substance for medical examinations under these conditions does not change anything about the Greens’ basic position on FRM II. “We don’t want to continue using highly enriched uranium, and we don’t want the fuel rods to be transported to Ahaus,” emphasizes Büchler. And the removal of the fuel rods to the interim storage facility in the North Rhine-Westphalian city is actually a political issue, as the Greens fear that emptying the cooling pond in FRM II could clear the way for continued operation in the previous form with highly enriched fuel rods.
Additional fuel waste will not result from the production of Mo-99 in Garching, FRM II spokeswoman Görg gives the all-clear. There are two manufacturers of the required uranium plates in Europe, who deliver them and then also dispose of them. “And disposal has also become easier. In this case, however, we have nothing to do with it,” says the spokeswoman.