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Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson today announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) plans to work with the private sector to provide a large-scale, long-term source of a promising new radioisotope for cancer treatment. The radioisotope, bismuth-213, is a decay product of uranium-233 – a material currently stored at the department's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

"This is a major step forward in making this promising medical isotope available for eventual widespread use in the health care community," said Secretary Richardson. "We expect that this effort will also enable us to meet our long-term objectives for disposition of this material."

The department currently stores uranium-233 in Building 3019 at ORNL. The department hopes to link the processing required to extract the isotope with an expedited opportunity to decontaminate and decommission the building.

DOE's Medical Isotope Program currently supplies small amounts of bismuth-213 to support an ongoing clinical trial at Sloan-Kettering Memorial Cancer Center in New York. This isotope has promise for the treatment of certain types of cancer, including acute myeloid leukemia cancer and cancers of the pancreas, kidneys and other organs.

DOE will issue a Request for Proposals by the end of the year for commercial processing of uranium-233, including subsequent extraction of bismuth-213. This effort is intended to supply the medical community with material needed to support research, clinical trials and eventual cancer treatment. Secretary Richardson's decision could make much more material available to accelerate the pace of medical research.

Food and Drug Administration approval is required before widespread use of this radioisotope can occur. The uranium-233 was produced in the 1960s at DOE nuclear fuel production plants in Hanford, Wash., and Savannah River, S.C., to investigate its potential use as commercial reactor fuel. Approximately 1.5 tons of total uranium containing 450 kilograms of uranium-233 have been stored at ORNL for more than 30 years.

Clinical trials in the use of bismuth-213 are in the first stage and have shown promising results. Unlike chemotherapy and other forms of cancer treatment, the procedure using a bismuth-antibody combination directly targets the cancer cells with minimal damage to surrounding healthy tissue. Using this "magic bullet," the patient can be treated with much smaller quantities of radioisotopes than other forms of treatment available today.

- DOE -

R-00-202