The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) has joined an international team to install a high resolution monitoring system at its medical isotope production facility in Lucas Heights, New South Wales.
Led by the United States Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), the project will deliver only the second monitor of its kind in the world after one was established in Belgium to produce potentially life-saving medical isotopes, including Molybdenum‑99.
According to ANSTO, production of the lifesaving isotopes can emit gasses that, while harmless to the community, have features that mimic those produced by a nuclear explosion.
Principal Investigator at PNNL, Judah Friese said the Laboratory was working with the US Departments of State and Defence and the National Nuclear Security Administration to install highly sensitive detectors around the world to measure effluents from the stacks of nuclear facilities that emit radioactive gasses.
“These first of their kind sensor systems, one in each hemisphere, will help with international measurements for detecting underground nuclear explosions,” Dr Friese said.
ANSTO’s Emmy Hoffmann said the opportunity to support the development or enhancement of nuclear forensic capabilities not only enhanced regional nuclear security, but also the cohesive global nuclear footprint.
“ANSTO has considerable nuclear policy and technology expertise, and we are delighted to join our international counterparts in the STAX project and contribute on a global scale,” said Ms Hoffmann, who manages environmental monitoring at ANSTO.
In Australia, ANSTO assembles and distributes more than 10,000 doses of nuclear medicine a week which are needed, on average, by one of every two Australians at some time during their lives.
ANSTO said there were around 40 million medical procedures per year around the world involving Technetium-99m, a short-lived isotope of Molybdenum-99 which gives off the gasses that can be monitored
* PHOTO: Representatives from PNNL joined ANSTO executives to install the radioactive detector
