ISOTOPE AVAILABILITY ALERT: Uranium-234 Back in Inventory

Following several years of constrained supply, the U.S. Department of Energy Isotope Program has replenished its inventory and is accepting new orders for the radioisotope uranium-234 (U-234), which is most commonly used to prolong the life of flux monitors for nuclear power plants. The available U-234 is recovered via chemical ion-exchange from substantial amounts of aged plutonium-238 housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The U-234 (half-life of 246,000 years) has a theoretical specific activity of 6.23 mCi/g and a radioisotopic purity of >99%. It is sold in oxide (U₃O₈) form.

Quotation requests for U-234 may be placed using the National Isotope Development Center’s Online Catalog of Isotope Products.