Necsa to double nuclear medicine production capacity

The South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa) on Thursday signed an agreement with Russia’s Rusatom Healthcare that could see the R1.4 billion-a-year local nuclear medicine industry double production in the next few years.

The signing took place on the sidelines of the Brics summit held in Sandton and attended by, among others, Russian president Vladimir Putin. Rusatom Healthcare is the healthcare division of Russian state-owned nuclear corporation Rosatom, which was seen as a front-runner to build reactors for South Africa’s new nuclear power programme. The programme has stalled due to court challenges and uncertainty about the country’s future power mix.

Necsa is currently a world leader in the production and distribution of nuclear medicine and exports to more than 60 countries.

While the agreement does not create any binding rights or obligations under local or international law, it is aimed at the joint development of two solution nuclear reactors at Necsa’s Pelindaba site outside Pretoria.

These are small reactors designed specifically for the effective production of nuclear medicine products. Necsa chair Dr Kelvin Kemm put the value of each reactor at about R250 million.

The two parties also plan to construct a commercial cyclotron at Pelindaba to further increase the production capacity of nuclear medicine in the region.

Moneyweb spoke to Kemm about the agreement and the future of nuclear medicine production in South Africa:

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Source: moneyweb.co.za