Good News for Cancer and Heart Disease Patients
US Nuclear Partner Achieves Critical Milestone Proving
New Way to Fill Multi-Billion/Year Shortage of Radioisotopes for Diagnostics
and Treatments.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and
Medicine warns about severe shortages of radioisotopes that are required to
non-invasively diagnose heart disease, cancer, other health issues, and to
treat over half of all cancers. Radioisotopes are largely made in only 5 outdated and
unreliable nuclear fission reactors that are all located outside the United
States.
Supply chain effects not yet known as major
radioisotope supplier, NRU Chalk River Reactor, was permanently shuttered a few
months ago and is now being demolished
US Nuclear and their partner MIFTEC Laboratories, have
developed a revolutionary new way to produce large quantities of radioisotopes
at about half the cost of today’s outdated and unreliable methods.
Medical isotopes are minute amounts of radioactive
substances commonly used to diagnose and treat cancer, heart disease and a
variety of health issues. Over 40 million procedures using radioisotopes are
performed each year. They are injected into the body to facilitate those
targeted and the whole body scans to enable doctors to determine (without the
use of invasive, risky and costly exploratory surgery) whether the heart and
cardiovascular system has adequate blood flow; whether cancer has spread to a
patient’s bones or elsewhere; and to help diagnose gallbladder, kidney,
thyroid, nerve, brain disorders, and more. When delivered into a malignant tumor,
isotopes can kill the cancer cells minimizing damage to nearby healthy tissue.
Worldwide shortages of radioisotopes are already impacting the quality of
health-care globally and experts warn about the likelihood of further
deterioration until a major new source for supply comes online. Because they
are largely produced in very expensive and outdated nuclear fission reactors,
the availability of radioisotopes is susceptible to unexpected shutdowns such
as the recent breakdown and closure of the Lucas Heights radioisotope producing
nuclear reactor in Australia and the permanent closure of the big Chalk River
NRU Canadian reactor. An example of the extraordinarily high costs to build a
nuclear fission reactor today, and the equally challenging length of time
isotope generators for North America and Asia, and makes US Nuclear a sales
representative for all MIFTEC products. The agreement also makes US Nuclear a
10% equity owner in MIFTEC with the potential to increase its stake in the near
future. With US Nuclear being designated as the exclusive manufacturer of the
MIFTEC isotope generators, US Nuclear expects to be a major market participant
in the US$10B worldwide industry upon reaching final testing and
implementation.
A recent press release from US Nuclear states: to
build one is Georgia Power’s newest twin Vogtle reactor that may top initial
estimates of $14 billion and reach $21 billion, according to recent Georgia
Public Service Commission testimony. The first two Vogtle Units begun in 1971
took 18 years to build and were a decade over schedule at a final price of $9
billion — ten times the original budget.
The Journal of Nuclear Medicine Technology says, “The
production of medical isotopes is in crisis and is built on a house of cards;
adequate production is dependent on 5 aging nuclear reactors that are being
stretched beyond their lifetime operational capacities. In 2008, the president
of the Society of Nuclear Medicine stated that the United States and other
countries are not prepared to adequately deal with a shortage crisis, nor could
they anticipate or prevent additional shortages. Since 2007, as reactor
shutdowns have occurred, nuclear medicine practitioners throughout North
America and Europe, in particular, have needed to ration medical isotopes,
cancel or postpone procedures, and pay higher costs for medical isotopes. This
has created ethical problems surrounding beneficent care for patients, and
rationing decisions are frequently being made by individual practitioners who
may not have sufficient knowledge or expertise in effective and sound
priority-setting frame-works.”
NOW THERE IS GOOD NEWS FOR CANCER
AND HEART DISEASE PATIENTS
US Nuclear Corp.’s partner, MIFTEC Laboratories, Inc.,
has discovered a revolutionary new way to make commercial quantities of
radioisotopes in their fusion power generators. The fusion based method they
are developing is simple, safe, and cost-effective. It uses an isotope of
hydrogen as fuel, which is derived from seawater and is simple, safe, and
cost-effective compared to the current method of using highly enriched or low
enriched uranium (HEU/LEU) that results in dangerous, long-term radioactive
byproducts.
Jerry Simmons, MIFTEC CEO says, “Neutron flux of
1012is required to make radioisotopes in commercial quantities, and the
exciting achievement of 1010 by Dr. Hafiz Rahman, President and Chief Scientist
and his staff at MIFTEC Labs and the University of Nevada, Reno National
Terawatt Facility, tells us that our scientific predictions and device will
work as designed. MIFTEC’s larger and more powerful machine currently in the
design phase is expected to achieve, and even surpass, the minimum parameter of
1012for radiopharmaceutical production.”
With US Nuclear being designated as the exclusive
manufacturer of the MIFTEC isotope generators, US Nuclear expects to be a major
market participant in the US $10B worldwide industry upon reaching final
testing and implementation.
“We are proud of the many accomplishments reached to
date, including:
US Patent issue for radionuclide production using Z-
pinch neutron source.
Ongoing collaborations with the University of
California, San Diego and the University of Nevada, Reno National Terawatt Facility
for laboratory experiments and advancement of MIFTEC technology and planned
actions:
MIFTEC technology with the expected capability of
providing the nuclear medicine industry with on-site isotope production at a
cost savings of up to 50% of current facilities.”
Bob Goldstein, the CEO of US Nuclear, graduated from
MIT with a degree in Physics and also has a degree in Engineering from
Stanford. He has authored more than 40 white papers and presentations on
radiation measurement and his work has been met and approved by US Federal
standards set by the EPA, FDA, and NRC. He also works closely with Los Alamos,
Sandia and Jefferson National Labs. His family’s first experience in nuclear
physics goes back to the 1940s when his father was involved in the historic
Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb. Mr. Goldstein founded US
Nuclear and is known for delivering the most sensitive, accurate and reliable
instruments in the world. The quality of their work is confirmed by a list of
loyal and repeat customers such as NASA, the EPA, Department of Energy, U.S.
Air Force, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, MIT, Pacific Gas & Electric, General
Electric, Lawrence Livermore, Oakridge National Lab and many more.
US Nuclear
has enjoyed a long-standing financial history of stable sales and modest
profitability, but in 2017 the perfect storm or new and sustained growth spawned
a sales increase of 50% with several new very large opportunities blossoming in
the large and underserved radioisotope market and the environmental monitoring
market that is forecast to hit $20 billion by 2021. For example, China is
converting all of their coal-fired power plants that are responsible for
dangerous polluted air and water, to about 200 fission nuclear reactors that
all require the best radiation monitoring equipment in order to ensure safety.
The Chinese nuclear agency claims that each individual nuclear power plant
requires about $8,000,000 in the highest quality and most reliable radiation
monitoring devices.
With World Nuclear Power Organization’s forecast for a
growing number of nuclear power plants to produce electricity (none planned to
produce radio-isotopes), the demand for radiation monitoring devices also
grows. Other large opportunities for US Nuclear are their unique products
recently offered for radon mitigation in homes and offices and the use of
drones to mount their sophisticated monitoring devices. Radon is commonly found
in many homes and is one of the leading known causes of lung cancer. Goldman
Sachs sees the drone market growing to a very large size by 2020.In conclusion,
US Nuclear is enjoying strong growth from its core business, and on top of
that, is well positioned to become a dominant supplier in a
multi-billion-dollar healthcare market of radioisotopes. Goldstein says, “Given
the failing state of essential medical isotope production facilities, this
first-ever achievement to meet and exceed the 1010 milestone in fusion neutron
production could not come at a better time.
Additionally, the projected cost
savings of up to 50% over the current imported resources; the idea of on-site
production; the low cost and shorter time to build the generators, and the
environmental benefit of a non-proliferating process that precludes the hazards
of fission-based methods; should make for important upgrades ahead in the vital
medical isotope supply chain.”
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