Medical Isotope Production
Building domestic fast-neutron isotope capacity in India — reducing import dependency for critical cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.
The Challenge
India’s Critical Dependency on Imported Isotopes
India runs millions of nuclear-medicine procedures every year on a supply chain that depends heavily on imports. Tc-99m — used in roughly 80% of diagnostic nuclear-medicine scans worldwide — has a six-hour half-life, meaning supply-chain disruptions translate directly into cancelled appointments and delayed diagnoses. The pressure is even sharper for the next-generation therapeutic and theranostic isotopes — Lu-177 (prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumours), Cu-64 (PET imaging), Cu-67 (paired therapeutic), and Sc-47 (theranostics). The OECD-NEA's 2025 supply review notes that the global Mo-99 production base depends on a handful of research reactors, five of which are more than fifty years old; two concurrent shutdowns in 2024 cut global supply by approximately 40 per cent. Several of the fast-neutron isotopes in this list are not addressable by thermal reactors at all.
Our Approach
Domestic Fast-Neutron Isotope Production
ASPL Fusion is working to contribute to India's domestic fast-neutron medical-isotope capacity using a Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) — an axisymmetric linear-mirror neutron source. Our target portfolio includes Sc-47, Cu-64, Cu-67, and Lu-177 alongside the broader diagnostic and therapeutic set (Tc-99m, Y-90, I-131, Sr-89, Tb-161, Ho-166). The fast-neutron group — particularly Cu-64, Cu-67, and Sc-47 — requires neutron energies above 1 MeV at clinical grade; these pathways are not physically accessible to thermal reactors and require either D-T fusion or another fast-neutron source.
Why It Matters
Key Benefits
Supply Chain Independence
Domestic production eliminates dependency on imported isotopes with short half-lives, ensuring reliable availability for India’s 30M+ annual nuclear medicine patients.
Reactor-Inaccessible Isotopes
Fast-neutron production unlocks isotopes like Cu-64, Cu-67, and Sc-47 that conventional reactors cannot produce — opening new diagnostic and therapeutic pathways.
Scalable Production
A single progressively-upgraded neutron platform can serve multiple hospitals and scale production as demand grows, without requiring new reactor licensing.
Who This Serves
Industries & Applications
- Nuclear medicine departments requiring reliable Tc-99m supply for diagnostic imaging
- Radiopharmaceutical companies developing Lu-177 and Cu-64 based therapies
- Cancer centres adopting targeted radionuclide therapy (PSMA, PRRT)
- Government health systems seeking to reduce isotope import dependency
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Related Applications
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