Germany is Europe's biggest consumer. For manufacturing technetium-99m, molybdenum-99 is required at first. However, this can be produced internationally in only a few research reactors, and this has caused shortages for many years.
That is why the research neutron source Heinz Maier-Leibnitz of the Technical University of Munich is currently being upgraded to supply half of the European need of this important diagnostic tool for cardiac and thyroid function or cancer. The English film presents the state of the project and the technical challenges, the manufacturing process of Technetium-99m and its application in medicine.
More information about the planned Mo-99 production facility can be found on our webpages.