MONONA, Wis. - SHINE Medical Technologies and Phoenix Nuclear Labs (PNL) announced today that they successfully operated their second-generation neutron driver prototype for 24 consecutive hours with 99% uptime. Completion of this milestone is an important demonstration of the reliability and robustness of the PNL neutron driver, which is a key enabling technology for SHINE's isotope production facility.
"I'm very excited PNL has demonstrated the reliability of their accelerator technology. Their team continues their strong track record of achievement, having reached this important milestone sooner than expected," said Greg Piefer, CEO of SHINE Medical.
"This specific accomplishment proves something we have been confident in all along-that the accelerator technology can work reliably at the power levels needed by our plant for extended periods of time. "We look forward to continued collaboration with PNL as we complete the transition of the accelerator system from demonstration to production."
SHINE is working to become the leading US supplier of molybdenum-99, a radioactive isotope that enables more than 80,000 medical imaging procedures every day to diagnose heart disease and cancer. At the core of the SHINE process for producing moly-99 is a particle accelerator-based, high-yield neutron driver manufactured by PNL. The SHINE facility, scheduled to begin commercial production of moly-99 in 2017 in Janesville, WI, will operate up to eight PNL drivers simultaneously to supply more than half of total US moly-99 demand.
"PNL is thrilled to have the opportunity to support SHINE's mission to produce the life-saving medical isotopes needed by so many Americans every day. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship and providing SHINE with a great product," said Ross Radel, President of PNL. "The credit for this success really goes to our dedicated engineering team. They have been working around the clock to complete this demonstration, and we could not be happier with the performance of our technology."
High reliability and uptime for the PNL neutron driver is important to SHINE Medical's goal to provide a reliable, domestic supply of moly-99 to the US. Demonstrating long-term operation of the PNL neutron driver with very high up-time provides important validation of SHINE's moly-99 production process. The successful test of the PNL driver was completed on July 31 and August 1 in Monona, WI. Testing of the second-generation neutron driver prototype will continue over the next several months.
