Regarding medical radioactive materials used for cancer testing and treatment, the Atomic Energy Commission of the country is aiming to domestically produce some of the products that rely on imports from overseas by utilizing research reactors and the like. I decided.
Technological development of radioactive materials for medical use is progressing all over the world, and while the number of treatment cases in Japan has nearly quintupled in the past 20 years, many rely on imports, such as shutdown of overseas nuclear reactors to be manufactured. It means that there are cases where the supply becomes unstable due to transportation troubles.
For this reason, the Atomic Energy Commission has formulated for the first time an action plan to cover some manufacturing domestically over the next five years.
Specifically, about 1 million cases a year, about 30% of domestic demand for "molybdenum 99", a raw material for diagnostic imaging, will be covered by domestic production by 2027, and it will be used for prostate cancer treatment. "Actinium 225" will be demonstrated so that it can be manufactured in a research reactor at the Japan Atomic Energy Agency by 2026.
According to the Atomic Energy Commission, it is expected that the use of radioactive substances for medical use will continue to expand in the field of "nuclear medicine", such as finding cancer cells by taking them into the body through tests aimed at treating cancer. He suggests, "There is a part where basic research in Japan is leading the world. It should be the strength of Japan over the next 10 years, mainly in the field of" nuclear medicine "."