Eden targets domestic medical radioisotope production

Eden Radioisotopes has filed a construction permit application with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a facility to produce medical radioisotopes, primarily molybdenum-99 and lutetium-177.

The United States has lacked a reliable domestic source of Mo-99 for diagnostic imaging for decades, and has invested in infrastructure in South Africa, the Netherlands, and Belgium to assist facilities in producing the isotope using HALEU targets. These reactors are old, and there have been disruptions to the supply chain due to unplanned outages for repairs. With a 66-hour half-life, Mo-99 cannot be stockpiled.

Eden Radioisotopes proposes to use a small, nonpower, open-pool reactor design that is optimized for high-yield isotope production. The reactor will use low-enriched uranium and operate at 1.8 MWt. Eden expects to operate it for 22 hours per day, using the downtime to replace targets.

According to Eden's NRC regulatory engagement plan, its facility "will produce Mo-99, iodine-131 (I-131), and xenon-133 (Xe-133) through the fission process and other isotopes, such as Lu-177, through neutron activation."

A hot cell facility is being constructed for target fabrication and for separating the desired radioisotopes from irradiated targets on site. The reactor will generate no spent fuel, the company said, and 90 percent of the uranium will be recycled for additional isotope production.

"For decades, the American medical system has operated at the mercy of a fragile, foreign-dependent supply chain," said Carrie Freeman, CEO of Eden Radioisotopes. "Eden will permanently reshore this capability-establishing a domestic supply of Mo-99 and Lu-177 and bringing proven nuclear technology directly to the fight against cancer and heart disease."

Domestic supply: For both Lu-177 and Mo-99, shifting from reliance on imports to domestic supply improves supply chain reliability in the United States. But for Mo-99 there is an additional consideration. If it takes 66 hours to transport Mo-99 from the production facility to a clinic, there will be half as much Mo-99 in the sample when it arrives as there was when it was sent. This makes domestic supply far more efficient, reducing transportation time by bringing production physically closer to the destination.

Domestic competition: The United States consumes half of the world's supply of Mo-99, including through more than 40,000 medical procedures each day. Eden has said its facility will be "positioned to deliver up to 50 percent of global demand" for the isotope.

Eden isn't the only company seeking to fill the domestic medical isotope production gap. Recently, the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Dominance Financing issued a conditional commitment for a loan of up to $263 million to fusion company Shine Technologies, which is also constructing a facility to produce Mo-99.

According to the DOE, the Chrysalis, Shine's facility in Janesville, Wis., is at an advanced stage of construction with its "production capacity exceeding 75 percent of U.S. Mo-99 demand." Shine is already producing Lu-177 at its existing isotope facility.

Eden's background: Eden will be using reactor technology developed at Sandia National Laboratories from a project that originated in the 1990s when the U.S. government recognized an impending shortage of medical isotopes. While the government shifted to relying on international imports, that has not proven to offer long-term reliability, especially after the Canadian National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River was shut down. According to Eden CEO Chris Wagner in a 2025 interview with Nuclear News, Eden was founded in 2019 by five individuals, four of whom came from Sandia.