Johannes Jobst of Demcon: How do you handle 2 MW of energy in an object the size of a matchbox? The most commonly used medical radioisotope in the world is the Mo-99/Tc-99m system, which is used in healthcare for the diagnosis and treatment of various conditions and diseases. Tens of millions of diagnostic procedures are performed with it each year. However, this production method has one major drawback: it generates a lot of nuclear waste. Within the SMART project, the National Institute for Radioelements (IRE) is developing a new production facility for Mo-99 that relies on irradiation without the use of a nuclear reactor. Demcon is playing an important role in this and is developing the molybdenum irradiation module, which releases extremely high levels of energy, and the harvesting machine, where the activated Mo-99 is extracted. Johannes Jobst, Senior Mechatronic System Engineer at Demcon, explains all the ins and outs of the latest developments. Ramón Navarro on the new James Webb Space Telescope For more than 31 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has been producing stunning images. Its successor will be launched in just over a month: the James Webb Space Telescope. The Netherlands made a major contribution to the development of the MIRI scientific instrument, namely the Mid InfraRed Instrument for the telescope, specially made for radiation in the mid-infrared spectrum. In this lecture from the Big Science Program, Ramón Navarro, Head of Optical Infrared R&D for NOVA, will present the enhanced capabilities of MIRI and the new telescope and will go into more detail about the concept, its realization and the launch process. 21
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