The National Isotope Development Center
The National Isotope Development Center (NIDC), managed by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Isotope R&D and Production (IRP), serves as the nation’s interface for the production, development, and distribution of critical isotopes. The NIDC connects research, medical, and industrial communities with isotopes essential for scientific discovery, advanced medical therapies, and national security. By coordinating production across DOE facilities, including Argonne, Brookhaven, Idaho, Los Alamos, Oak Ridge and Pacific Northwest National Laboratories, as well as with university partners, the NIDC ensures reliable access to both stable and radioactive isotopes in short supply through reactors, accelerators and other advanced production technologies.
Providing essential isotopes and specialized services, the NIDC reduces the nation’s reliance on foreign sources and strengthens U.S. leadership in nuclear science, technology, and innovation. Through these efforts, the NIDC enables research and innovation, advances public health, enhances national security and sustains U.S. competitiveness worldwide.
The U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program
The DOE Isotope Program supports the production and the development of production techniques of radioactive and stable isotopes that are in short supply for research and applications. Isotopes are high-priority commodities of strategic importance for the nation and are essential for energy, medical, and national security applications and for basic research; a goal of the program is to make critical isotopes more readily available to meet domestic U.S. needs.
The program also coordinates and supports isotope production at numerous universities, national laboratories, and commercial accelerator and reactor facilities throughout the nation to promote a reliable supply of domestic isotopes. The NIDC coordinates isotope production across these facilities and manages the business operations of the sale and distribution of isotopes.
