Oak Ridge’s New Lab Speeds Cleanup and Cancer Research

Officials cut the ribbon for a new analytical laboratory supporting the Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management's (OREM) highest-priority cleanup project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. From left, Jeff Kendall, AtkinsRéalis U.S. Nuclear president; Scott Claunch, TerraPower Isotopes president; Sarah Schaefer, Isotek Systems president and project manager; Erik Olds, OREM manager; Ben Goodrich, TerraPower Isotopes vice president of strategy; and Teresa Robbins, OREM deputy manager.

OAK RIDGE, Tenn. — The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Oak Ridge Office of Environmental Management (OREM) and contractor Isotek Systems finished installing a new analytical laboratory supporting the highest-priority cleanup project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) and speeding the delivery of crucial material for cancer treatment research.

Isotek is tasked with eliminating the nation’s inventory of uranium-233 stored at ORNL. Its removal eliminates a major risk, avoids significant taxpayer costs to keep the inventory safe and secure and enables demolition of the storage facility to transform ORNL’s central campus and open space for important research missions.

Uranium-233 was created in the 1950s and 1960s for potential use in nuclear reactors but proved unviable as a fuel source.

Crews disposed of about half of the inventory, but the remainder required processing to convert it into a form safe for transportation and disposal out of state. While Isotek has surpassed the halfway mark of the processing campaign, challenging work remains to complete the project in coming years.

A newly installed lab, located in Building 2026 where processing operations are underway, will assist those efforts by providing in-house capabilities to analyze samples of processed material, leading to accelerated shipments.

“This addition brings an immediate return on investment,” said OREM Manager Erik Olds. “It helps avoid delays by providing employees more data and faster results as they make decisions and process material for disposal. This new, unique capability also provides us opportunities to support other priority projects in the future.”

A new laboratory allows a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management team to analyze samples of extracted medical isotopes for faster results and delivery to support cancer treatment research, avoiding previous delays caused by sending samples to labs elsewhere. Employees will now receive results in about two weeks instead of four months.

Isotek is extracting a rare medical isotope, thorium-229, from the uranium-233 prior to processing and disposal. Through an innovative public-private partnership with nuclear innovation company TerraPower Isotopes, the isotopes help fuel next-generation cancer treatments.

TerraPower Isotopes provides sustained, commercial-scale access to the isotopes to the global pharmaceutical community, and they are now being used in clinical trials around the world.

At the lab, Isotek can analyze samples of extracted isotopes for faster results and delivery to TerraPower Isotopes, avoiding previous delays caused by sending samples to labs elsewhere for analysis. Employees will receive results in about two weeks instead of four months.

“The Building 2026 analytical lab will allow Isotek to not only transfer thorium-229 to TerraPower Isotopes much more quickly, but it will also allow the processing team to make adjustments to increase the recovery of thorium-229 much more quickly,” said Sarah Schaefer, Isotek president and project manager.

Scott Claunch, president of TerraPower Isotopes, said the future of precision medicine relies on a dependable supply of actinium-225, which the company recovers from Isotek’s thorium-229.

“Isotek’s investment in a state-of-the-art laboratory to speed up the processing of actinium-225’s parent isotope will help continue to expand production capacity, strengthen the global isotope supply chain and ultimately expand access to new cancer therapies to those who need it most.”

The uranium-233 in storage at ORNL is the only major source of thorium-229 in the world. Through this project, Isotek has increased the global supply by over 2,000%. The first treatments using this material commercially are expected in 2028.

-Contributor: Ben Williams