France’s Framatome and Argentina’s nuclear utility, Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA (NA-SA) have signed an agreement to conduct a pre-feasibility study on installing systems to produce short-lived radioisotopes, such as lutetium-177 (Lu-177), at NA-SA’s Atucha I, Atucha II, and Embalse NPPs. The study is expected to take a year and will be completed in two stages, evaluating both the technical and economic feasibility of producing Lu-177, a medical isotope used for cancer diagnosis and treatment.
“Framatome has been working with Nucleoeléctrica Argentina for decades to support the safe, reliable and sustainable operation of the Atucha I and II and Embalse nuclear reactors,” said François Gauché, Vice President of Framatome Healthcare. “Nuclear technologies play a crucial role in modern healthcare, and we are delighted to extend our cooperation with Nucleoeléctrica Argentina through this worthy initiative.”
Argentina has extensive experience in the commercial production of radioisotopes at its pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). For decades, the Embalse NPP has been producing Cobalt-60, an element widely used in medicine and industry.
“This agreement reaffirms our commitment to leveraging the country’s nuclear capabilities,” said NA-SA President Alberto Lamagna, during the ceremony marking the agreement. “We aim to go beyond electricity generation by developing applications that add value to the nuclear industry’s production chain.”
Framatome’s proprietary isotope production technology is already used to commercially produce Lu-177 at a Candu plant in Canada and a similar project is underway at Romania’s Cernavoda NPP.
Argentina has been ramping up its radioisotope production from its current RA-03 reactor, with lutetium-177 also set to be one of the products when the new RA-10 multi-purpose reactor begins operations in 2026 – Argentina says the 30 MWt open pool type reactor will have the capacity to supply about 20% of global demand for radioisotopes.
In October, Argentina’s National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA – Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica) began a three-stage process to increase radioisotope production with the aim of obtaining a surplus for export. CNEA already produces enough radioisotopes to satisfy domestic demand. The first phase of this process is underway and will result in an increase of 31%.
Radioisotopes are currently produced in the RA-3 research reactor, at the Ezeiza Atomic Centre. However, the RA-3 will eventually be replaced by a new RA-10 multi-purpose reactor. CNEA and private technology company INVAP (from INVestigación APlicada – applied research) are designing a fission radioisotope production plant (PPRF) as a support facility for the at the Ezeiza Atomic Centre. The PPRF will process on an industrial scale targets irradiated in the RA-10 in order to obtain a sustained production of molybdenum-99, iodine-131 and possibly Lu-177.
