After three years of planning and finalized construction, the long-promised future of radioisotope creation is set to begin in the industrial park area of West Valley City.
With government dignitaries and community members on hand, the ribbon was cut on Aug 21 at the Nusano facility, an event which company officials say opens a new chapter in domestic radioisotope production. Nusano says it combines time-proven technology from universities and research centers with the company’s patented particle acceleration technology, making the practice safer and more efficient than ever before.
CEO Chris Lowe, who has hosted reporters at the site a couple of times before, reiterated the safety of Nusano’s facility, built with almost 700 cement pillars that are 70 feet deep, giving it the ability to withstand up to a 7.0 earthquake. He said it has been built to last 40 years and will improve the supply chain stability for radioisotopes for multiple industries in aerospace, medical research and therapies and clean energy.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox spoke, calling the event “a momentous day” that could lead to creation of a healing hub for cancer and other medical challenges. As Lowe has pointed out, radioisotopes can target cancer treatments to specific parts of the body without damaging other parts. He said the work at Nusano can be done much less costly than current radioisotope manufacturing processes.
Nusano’s 190,000-square-foot facility features a linear accelerator that will allow for more than 40 radioisotopes. Among those will be Actinium, Astatine, Copper, Cesium, Iodine, Iridium, Lead 203 and 212, Lithium, Rhenium, Scancium, Selenium, Strontium
and Tin.
“Decades from now, people will look back on how the mystery of many of our energy problems and isotope needs were resolved, and they will point to West Valley City, Utah,” Lowe said. “They will say this is the place where it all happens. That’s not hyperbole; it’s a fact. We’re long past just the concept phase; we’re in the operational phase. There’s nothing like this anywhere else on the planet. If we dropped some of our equipment in downtown Beijing today, it would take Chinese engineers four to five years to figure out how to use it. That’s how far advanced we are in this facility.”
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a federally funded research and development center in Menlo Park, California, built in 1966. It stretches for almost two miles and is used to accelerate electrons. At Nusano, that same function can be conducted in its accelerator that measures just 73 feet.