The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (Ansto) announced on 12 December that it had engaged Sweden’s Quintus Technologies to provide a hot isostatic press as part of the Synroc radioactive waste treatment facility, which is to be built as part of the Ansto Nuclear Medicine Project.
Ansto technical director Gerry Triani said the Quintus QIH80 press would be an important part of the Synroc facility, construction of which is scheduled to begin next year. Ansto's plant will start production of medical isotopes early next year but the waste generated will not be ready for treatment for another three years, by which time the waste facility will be operational, he said.
Synroc is part of an AUD168m ($127m) project to enable Australia to expand its domestic production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) to meet 25% of global needs.
