Interagency Cooperation Transforms Legacy Waste into Strategic Medical Radioisotope Supply

DOE and DOC collaborate to recover radium-226 (Ra-226), strengthening the domestic supply of a critical material needed for new cutting-edge cancer therapy. Securing a domestic supply of radium-226 (Ra-226) is a strategic priority for the United States, and a new interagency effort is delivering results. The Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Isotope R&D and Production (IRP), within the Office of Science, and the Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has recovered significant quantities of a rare and valuable feedstock material used for medical radioisotope production, Ra-226, from obsolete materials that were stored as radiological waste at NIST facilities. This Ra-226 material will be used to support several cancer-fighting therapies, directly impacting the lives of everyday Americans. “Recovering and repurposing these waste materials is key to strengthening a secure, resilient domestic medical isotope supply chain,” said Christopher Landers, Director of IRP. “By working in partnership with NIST and leveraging the capabilities of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and the National Laboratory system, we are converting previously unused materials into a strategic resource that supports U.S. leadership in cancer therapy and radioisotope production while improving safety for workers and removing long-term hazards for facilities.” Through this collaboration, IRP is converting waste materials into high-value feedstock for production of alpha-emitting radioisotopes such as actinium-225, radium-223, and radium-224/lead-212, which are in high demand for targeted cancer therapies. Simultaneously, NIST is focusing efforts on developing radioactivity measurement standards for these radioisotopes in addition to the radium-226 and thorium-228 standards that it has had for decades. Under IRP direction, PNNL developed and executed technical capabilities to enable scalable recovery operations across diverse sites and material forms, including the safe material handling, packaging, and transport of the NIST Ra-226. The recovered material has now been transferred to PNNL for processing and use as feedstock. This new recovery and shipping process will enable PNNL to process Ra-226 from across the U.S. and the world, directly supporting the DOE IRP mission to produce and distribute radioactive and stable isotopes in short supply. “These materials were very well-characterized and NIST has impeccable facility controls, infrastructure, and highly skilled staff in place,” said Matt Fountain, PNNL’s project manager on the effort. “The therapeutic promise of actinium-225 is significant, and the limits on supply have direct impacts on the ability for cancer patients to access life-saving treatments. By leveraging existing Ra-226, we can increase the domestic production capacity of actinium-225.” This initiative demonstrates a scalable, cost-effective model for addressing two national challenges simultaneously: securing a domestic supply of scarce medical radioisotope feedstocks and reducing legacy radiological waste. It also reflects a coordinated federal approach to strengthen supply chain resilience for isotopes critical to healthcare, research, and national security. IRP is expanding this effort to identify and recover additional Ra-226 inventories, positioning the United States to lead in the production of life-saving radioisotopes while improving stewardship of legacy materials, such as those stored at NIST facilities.