Army medical arm, atomic agency to cooperate in producing isotopes

AMMAN — The Royal Medical Services (RMS) and the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) on Tuesday signed a cooperation agreement to produce and market medical radioactive isotopes.

The agreement aims at exchanging relevant expertise, applying a quality system that meets international requirements, developing medical uses of these isotopes which can be produced at the Jordanian nuclear reactor project for research and training, according to an RMS statement.

RMS Director General Maj. Gen. Muin Habashneh said this cooperation constitutes a qualitative leap in producing these radioactive items for medical diagnosis and treatment purposes, and helps RMS secure these materials from local sources, which saves time, effort and money.

JAEC Chairman Khaled Toukan said his agency would operate the reactor and produce the isotopes to serve the local and regional markets, the statement added.