Each year, thousands of NHS patients benefit from the advances of nuclear medicine in their treatment.
Trace amounts of radioisotopes are used to diagnose and treat health conditions including many types of cancer, heart disease and thyroid disease and for the early detection and assessment of brain disorders such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.
As medicine develops and breaks new frontiers, the use of radioisotopes will continue to be a significant component of this.
One in two UK citizens will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and may well see their quality of life and the efficacy of their treatments enhanced as a result of nuclear medicine.
Each year, global demand for these treatments increases at a rate of up to five per cent. Every hospital in the UK uses them to help patients on a daily basis. Yet the supply of the radioisotopes required faces a global shortage.
Presently the UK has no home-grown supply for the vast majority of radioisotopes needed. We rely on imports from ageing European facilities.
In the 1950s and 1960s when such treatments began, we were global leaders in their production and medical use. We need to be again. And we can be.
Building on this heritage, and on NNL’s world-leading capability in the area of complex chemical separation and purification of nuclear material with many years of experience, our objective is to develop production of the radioisotopes needed to develop new treatments. By co-locating a facility for this with space for academic and clinical medical work, we could directly enable engagement and access to materials for research and development.
Harvesting radioisotopes from existing nuclear material is a proven and beneficial approach to providing what is needed by medical clinicians and researchers. NNL has already developed a number of new radioisotope production routes and has begun the early development work to start building this as a capability for the UK. Our plan is to take this early work and progress it over the short term into a sustainable route to allow the regular provision of radioisotopes.
This is a significant new opportunity for NNL and core to our new purpose of nuclear science to benefit society. It would be transformative for healthcare in the UK and, given the global nature of the challenge, citizens of the other countries we supply.
And in developing a facility within one of our existing, nuclear licensed laboratories, we would be creating new long-term and high-quality employment in the North West.
But harvesting medical radioisotopes requires the desired radioisotope to be present in the source material. Where this is not the case, a method to make the radioisotope is required, typically using an accelerator system or a nuclear reactor. Currently the UK does not have sovereign capabilities to do this except for a small number of specific radioisotopes. Addressing this missing infrastructure is core to our strategy and the surest way for the UK to create the indigenous supply it needs.
We are in dialogue with key stakeholders about the potential for a neutron accelerator system, known as STELLAR, to be installed within an existing nuclear facility. Combined with our existing capability in the form of hot cells and glove boxes, this would transform the UK’s ability to produce a wide range of medical radioisotopes.
In addition to building our internal capability and expertise, we are also engaging with academia, industry and the medical profession. By bringing together these sectors, we are helping the UK establish a domestic supply of radioisotopes and compete in the global market, estimated to be worth £23 billion by 2024.
Access to material, understanding the pull from medical science and articulating the benefit to the UK are all important in achieving our objectives for this area. Investment in new critical infrastructure to enable the full ambition, such as neutron accelerator capability, requires a clear business case that has wide support.
This is a significant new opportunity for NNL and core to our new purpose of nuclear science to benefit society. It would be transformative for healthcare in the UK and, given the global nature of the challenge, citizens of the other countries we supply.
And in developing a facility within one of our existing, nuclear-licensed laboratories, we would be creating new long-term and high-quality employment in the North West.
How other countries are progressing this agenda
In the US, the Department of Energy has joined forces with Isotek Systems and TerraPower, the nuclear research venture founded by Bill Gates, to provide extremely rare and unique isotopes for cancer research and treatment. This public-private partnership uses thorium extracted from nuclear material stored as waste at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee to support lifesaving radiation doses for cancer patients.
