New work at a local lab will help Australia play a greater role in the development of nuclear medicine - radiopharmaceuticals for cancers, heart disease, muscular and skeletal conditions.

Australia will triple its production of nuclear medicines to become a major world supplier, following work on the new $168 million ANSTO Nuclear Medicine facility.

The project will allow one of Australia’s key research laboratories to ramp-up production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99), which is the base material for nuclear medicines in hospitals and medical centres worldwide.

ANSTO currently delivers the equivalent of 10,000 patient doses of Mo-99 each week, and it is estimated that Mo-99 is used in around 45 million medical procedures worldwide every year.

Demand is growing and local outlets are excellently placed to exploit it, ANSTO CEO Dr Adi Paterson said.

“Through this important project, we are saying to the world that Australia will at least triple its medicine capacity, increasing critical supplies and helping meet world demand with proliferation-proof medicine produced with Low Enriched Uranium,” said Dr Paterson.

The ANM Project includes a nuclear medicine manufacturing plant and a waste treatment plant to treat by-products for permanent, safe storage at a national waste repository.

The project is worth $168.8 million and subject to required approvals the plant will be operational from 2016.