Nuclear technology company Nusano has achieved a significant breakthrough in stable isotope production, successfully enriching gadolinium-160 (Gd-160) to 99.2% purity using proprietary in-house technology. The milestone was announced alongside the grand opening of the company's new 190,000-square-foot facility in West Valley City, Utah, marking a major step toward establishing domestic supply chains for critical medical isotopes.
"Establishing a 100% domestic supply chain for strategic stable isotopes is another significant step toward our mission of empowering innovation," said Chris Lowe, CEO of Nusano. "Our proprietary technologies are scaling to ensure a high level of reliability and purity so our customers can grow their operations and stabilize their supply chains."
Breakthrough in Isotope Enrichment Technology
The achievement represents a substantial improvement over natural gadolinium, which contains only 21.86% of the desired gadolinium-160 isotope. Nusano's ability to enrich Gd-160 to 99.2% purity "opens the door to high volume, high purity radioisotope manufacturing," according to Lowe.
Stable isotopes serve as the starting material for radioisotope manufacturing, with Gd-160 specifically used to produce radioactive isotopes being explored for cancer diagnosis and treatment. The company's proprietary process extracts high purity, enriched stable isotopes from naturally available elements, making them suitable for use as target material in radioisotope production.
Advanced Manufacturing Infrastructure
The new facility features sophisticated infrastructure designed to support complex isotope production operations. Austin Yusi Cao, Nusano's Director of Mechanical Engineering, highlighted the facility's specialized design: "You're standing in really an incredibly well-designed building that we first started designing almost five years ago. Every single hidden bolt in this building, that 10-ton crane—it's all built to support the accelerator."
At the heart of the operation is Nusano's proprietary ion source technology. "What you're seeing is the secret sauce behind our company: creating a cloud of alpha ions that is orders of magnitude more than anyone else in the world today," said Cao. "That's 100 times more than anyone else on the planet today."
The facility houses a 73-foot linear accelerator (LINAC), which Applied Physicist Irina Petrushina described as a device that accelerates charged particles along a straight path using oscillating electric fields. The system can split into 12 separate beams, enabling simultaneous production of 12 different isotopes.
Production Capabilities and Market Impact
Nusano's system will produce over 25 different radioisotopes for cancer diagnostics and treatments starting in 2025. The company's production model offers significant advantages over existing technology, according to Lowe: "Existing technology has to plan two or three years in advance just to make one product. We can produce 12 different products at once."
The CEO indicated that the company could eventually produce "over 40, probably over 50 isotopes," but emphasized that market demand, rather than scientific capability, now represents the primary constraint.
Addressing Supply Chain Vulnerabilities
The development addresses critical supply chain vulnerabilities in the isotope market. "Today, supply chains for many stable isotopes trace back to geopolitically-stressed nations," said Lowe. "Where does most of that material come from? Western China or Russia."
Lowe highlighted quality improvements over legacy suppliers: "80% quality was like a home run for the product shipped out of Russia for decades. That's a distant memory. Now it's 99.9% or bust."
Facility Design and Safety Features
The facility incorporates extensive safety measures, built with 162,000 metric tons of concrete and resting on 683 massive pillars extending 88 feet into the ground. "We are geologically stable in a 7.0 earthquake. The whole facility moves as one," Lowe explained. "This is the safest thing I've ever come across in my life."
The building is part of the emerging Medical Innovation Technology (MIT) research campus in West Valley City, positioned to become a premier hub for medical manufacturing and innovation in Utah. "This capability here has already attracted several other therapeutic or drug companies right here along the street," Lowe noted.
With installation nearing completion, Cao projected that "In about two months, you'll see this place come alive with activity and everything installed, signaling a transformative moment for Utah's economy and global healthcare."
