Federal grant programs / Department of Energy

Molybdenum-99 Program (81.009)

Also known as Technology for Demonstration and Commercial Scale Production of a Reliable, Domestic Supply of Molybdenum-99 without the Use of Highly Enriched Uranium

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$98.9 million
• Grant awards4
• Typical award$10.8 million
• Awarded in FY 2025$0
• Size rank817 of 1,823
• Type of assistanceCooperative agreements

Key findings

• It is the 817th largest of 1,823 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• Awards went to recipients in 2 states and territories.

What the program funds

In 2012, Congress passed the American Medical Isotopes Production Act (AMIPA), which directed the Department of Energy to establish a technology-neutral program to support the establishment of domestic supplies of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) without the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU). The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA) has implemented this by competitively awarding 50%/50% cost-shared cooperative agreements to commercial entities and providing funds to the DOE National Laboratories to support development of non-HEU Mo-99 production technologies. Mo-99 is a critical radioisotope whose decay byproduct technetium-99m (Tc-99m), is used in over 40,000 nuclear medicine diagnostic procedures performed daily in the United States. Its primary uses include diagnosing heart disease and cancer, as well as studying organ structure and function. The isotope’s short half-life and excellent binding properties make it uniquely suited for medical procedures. However, due to its short half-life it must be produced continuously to meet the medical community’s requirements. The United States does not currently have a domestic production capability for Mo-99 sufficient to meet the needs of the U.S. healthcare community, currently estimated at 4,500 6-day curies per week. The establishment of reliable, commercial, non-HEU-based Mo-99 production in the United States complements the long-standing U.S. policy to minimize and eliminate the use of proliferation-sensitive HEU in civilian applications in order to prevent the potential theft of this material for malevolent use. The United States is at the nexus of two related priorities: the need to ensure a reliable, robust Mo-99 supply for U.S. patient care, and discouraging the use of proliferation-sensitive HEU in civilian applications. NNSA will issue Cooperative Agreements with the purpose of providing additional federal funding to accelerate commercial Mo-99 projects’ time to market so that industry and government can fulfill these two critical priorities and decrease the U.S. medical community’s reliance on foreign supplies of Mo-99.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

Only U.S. commercial entities with mature technologies to achieve commercial-scale production of Mo-99 in a facility or using facilities located in the United States in accordance with the goals of this FOA may submit applications. National Laboratories, M&O Contractors, Institutions of Higher Education, and Federally Funded Research and Development Centers (FFRDC) are not eligible to apply for an award under this FOA, but can be included in teaming arrangements.

What the money can and cannot pay for

The technical objective of the assistance is to achieve near term U.S. commercial Mo-99 production of at least 1,500 6-day Ci/week without the use of HEU and the ability to increase the production of Mo-99 in its facility or facilities up to 3,000 6-day Ci/week.

Matching requirements

This program has no statutory formula. Cooperative agreements (CA) will be awarded on a 50%/50% Federal/non-Federal cost sharing basis . The recipient will be required to match the U.S. Government contribution.MOE requirements are not applicable to this assistance listing.

Deadlines

No additional FOAs are currently open or planned to be issued under this Assistance Listing. The previous FOA was open for 60 days.

Award range and average, in the agency's words

Range: $13M - $35M Average: $21M

Examples of funded projects

Fiscal Year2021: Cooperative Agreements with NorthStar Medical Technologies, LLC [FY 2021]Fiscal Year2022: Cooperative Agreement with Niowave Inc. Cooperative Agreement with SHINE Technologies, LLC

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

Almost all of the money went to small businesses.

By state

Each state below has its own page for this program, with its recipients and yearly totals.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.