Following a production process breakdown due to a ruptured pipe inside a hot cell, there will be a shortage of the radiopharmaceutical technetium-99m over the next week which will affect some, but not all, scheduled nuclear medicine procedures in Australia.
Technetium-99m is produced when the radioactivity in molybdenum-99, which is produced in research reactors such as ANSTO’s HIFAR reactor, decays. ANSTO supplies molybdenum-99 to doctors via its Gentech Generators, which allows medicos to ‘milk’ the technetium when it’s needed. Most generators last about one week.
ANSTO has organised for supplies of molybdenum-99 to be imported from overseas to make up for the shortfall and minimise impact on the nuclear medicine community. ANSTO will package the molybdenum-99 into Gentech Generators as soon it arrives. Production of thallium, another ANSTO-produced radiopharmaceutical, which can be used for heart imaging instead of technetium, has also been increased to meet demand.
The rupture had no impact on the health of ANSTO workers or the community. Only one worker was in the vicinity of the incident, but after examination he has been found not to have received any radiation dose. No measurable contamination was found outside the immediate area where the incident occurred, and there are no off-site consequences.
All the relevant authorities and nuclear medicine clinics have been notified of the situation and the cause of the rupture is being investigated. Production will recommence once the investigation has been completed and the problem fixed.