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**NEWS MEDIA CONTACT: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**

**Hope Williams, 202/586-5806 Thursday, October 9, 2003**

**DOE AWARDS CONTRACT TO CONVERT DEFENSE**

**LEGACY MATERIAL INTO WEAPON AGAINST CANCER**

***Supply Of Medical Isotopes to be Increased for Clinical Trials and
Cancer Treatment***

**WASHINGTON, DC -** As part of an initiative to clean up Cold War
legacy sites, Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham announced today that
the Department of Energy (DOE) will award a contract to Isotek Systems,
LLC, in Oak Ridge, Tenn., to down blend enriched uranium-233 and extract
isotopes that show great promise in the treatment of deadly cancers. The
contract's total estimated cost is approximately \$128 million dollars
over an estimated nine-year period.

"DOE has an important responsibility to clean up the legacies from the
Cold War," Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham said. "That we can
fulfill this mission while producing valuable new tools in the fight
against cancer is an exciting and unique opportunity."

Isotek Systems is a limited liability corporation formed by Duratek
Federal Services, Inc., Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., and Burns and Roe
Enterprises, Inc. Additionally, DOE's Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory (PNNL), through a Cooperative Research and Development
Agreement, and Theragenics, Inc., will partner with Isotek to produce
and deliver the isotopes.

For more than 30 years, DOE's Oak Ridge National Laboratory has stored
more than 1,200 containers of enriched uranium-233, originally produced
at the department's former defense nuclear materials production plants.
This uranium, which requires expensive security, safety and
environmental controls, has been stored at a laboratory facility,
Building 3019, that dates back to the Manhattan Project.

The contract award announced today calls for extraction of thorium-229
during the down blending process. The thorium will be used by Isotek's
partner, Theragenics, Inc., to extract actinium-225 and supply its
daughter product, bismuth-213, for ongoing cancer research, including
Phase II clinical trials for treatment of acute myologenous leukemia.
PNNL will work with Theragenics on research and development that can
optimize the actinium extraction process.

Production of actinium, including research and development, is a private
venture at no cost to the government.

**(MORE)**

**R-03-232**

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These isotopes are also being explored for treatment of other serious
cancers of the lungs, pancreas, and kidneys. As part of the treatment,
the isotopes are bound to monoclonal antibodies that attack the cancer
while minimizing the impact to surrounding tissue. Over the past five
years, the department has provided modest quantities of actinium-225 for
cancer research. This project will significantly increase supply.

DOE has developed a three-phased approach to complete this initiative.
The base contract award is for Phase I, *Planning and Design*. Phases II
and III*, Project Implementation and Shutdown of the Building 3019
Complex*, are contract options that may be unilaterally exercised by the
department.

Additional information on the department's isotope program may be found
on the department's nuclear energy web site, **www.nuclear.gov**.

**-DOE-**

**R-03-232**