Inside the 24-hour race to deliver vital isotopes

The isotopes are never alone.

Twenty-four hours a day, every single day of the year, someone is at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center, where teams of highly skilled technicians work to separate and package isotopes important to health, science, industry and national security – and keep the resources for that work up and running.

“There’s always someone here,” said Dan Bettinger, leader for C Shift, one of four teams who rotate the 12-hour night shifts as part of the REDC Hot Cell Operations Group. “We always have someone covering the control room.”

There are good reasons for staffing the REDC 24 hours. One is that the demand for isotopes is so high, campaigns continue all night to make deadlines. There’s a limited number of hot cells – specially shielded enclosed labs where techs work with radioactive materials using remote-controlled mechanical arms – and those spaces are scheduled for use. Often, one campaign must finish on time so that another can start on time, though some campaigns do overlap. 

Staff in the REDC also work with some isotopes that have short half-lives – meaning time is of the essence in getting a radioisotope shipped before it starts to decay away. For example, californium-252, used for starting up nuclear reactors and for other industry applications, has a half-life of just more than 2½ years. ORNL, which produces Cf-252 about every two years, is the only source in the Western hemisphere for the in-demand energy isotope. In the REDC, the lab also produces plutonium-238 for NASA to fuel deep-space travel, and the amount is consistently increasing so that eventually, NASA will use only Pu-238 produced at ORNL. The 24-hour REDC Hot Cell Operations group supports both programs. 

Its presence also supports the production of other isotopes, such as actinium-225. Ac-225 is in high demand for targeted alpha therapy cancer treatments and has a half-life of only 10 days. This short half-life is beneficial when it’s used to target tumors, because it decays quickly in the patient’s body with minimal effect on surrounding, healthy cells. But it creates a challenge for the skilled professionals charged with separating and purifying the isotope and getting it to customers on time. Because the Hot Cell Operations Group staffs the REDC 24 hours, teams working Ac-225 can work outside normal “business hours” to meet shipping and delivery deadlines – starting work as early as 4 a.m. 

In addition, government regulations require one of the two buildings that comprise REDC – a Hazard Category 2 nuclear facility − to be staffed whenever operations are occurring. Besides supporting Cf-252 and Pu-238 production, along with processing the neptunium and curium those programs use, the Hot Cell Operations group processes other actinides. 

This work is equally likely to happen during daytime or at night, though the pace is different. 

At night, “it’s quieter,” Bettinger said. “We can focus more on our work instead of answering the phone and answering other people’s questions.” 

This work is equally likely to happen during daytime or at night, though the pace is different. 

At night, “it’s quieter,” Bettinger said. “We can focus more on our work instead of answering the phone and answering other people’s questions.” 

Everyone is cross-trained, he added, though they try to schedule more complicated processing runs for daytime hours because additional technical support is available in case of issues.

Even between isotope production campaigns, Bettinger said, there’s plenty of night work. A few months ago, the staff were calibrating instruments, something they do annually. They’d just finished inventory of nuclear materials, noting the amounts and locations, as required for safety reasons, and planned to next take samples of the solution used for processing, to check its acidity. Other times, they’re engaged in the intense training required to safely work in a nuclear facility with rare, radioactive materials.

“Whatever’s next on the list is what we do,” Bettinger said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s nights or days or weekends.” 

REDC shift supervisor Chuck Eubanks, who joined the lab a little less than three years ago, said day shift handles a lot of other business besides isotope processing.

“Our labs are fuller during the day, and there’s just more people here,” Eubanks said. “At nighttime, we do mainly processing, so we’re able to get a lot more accomplished on that end. We still get a lot accomplished during the day, but we have other duties. To me, that’s the biggest difference.”

That, and the camaraderie, he said: “Obviously, you get to know each other a lot better at night.” Sometimes they have potluck dinners; sometimes he or Dan buy dinner for the shift.

Staffers who work on REDC shifts work nights immediately followed by days, then have four days off. Every three weeks, shift workers have seven days off straight. “You do have to be a special person to be able to swap so quickly,” Bettinger said. “I always tell people, you need to have your whole life in order to be able to work this shift. If someone’s working night shift, the whole family’s working night shift.”

“That rest time in between has been better for me” than a standard day-night rotation, said Eubanks, who worked a rotating night shift with two days off between at his previous job. “I like to have the big chunks of off time; it gives me better work-life balance and helps with burnout.”

Hot cell operations technician Sophie Seivers, who worked straight nights at her previous job, said that though there was an adjustment period, she prefers this shift setup.

“I don’t feel like I’m always at work,” Seivers said. “I get to do things with my family.”

Seivers, whose grandfather worked at ORNL, sought a position at the lab because she wanted to do hands-on work producing something important to the nation. 

“It’s a really physical job, but it’s something I’m good at,” Eubanks said. “I really believe in which we do here, so it’s important to me to know I’m coming to work and doing something especially useful.”

UT-Battelle manages ORNL for DOE’s Office of Science, the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States. The Office of Science is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, visit energy.gov/science. – Kristi Bumpus