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Small Talk, Big Impact

At Urenco, our work in stable isotopes is driven by more than just advanced technology. It’s driven by people. What does it take to provide the essential building blocks for life-saving cancer treatments, global research into the origins of the universe and complex industrial applications? We sat down with our experts for a series of "Small Talk" sessions to go beyond the lab coat. In these exclusive interviews, our team shares an inside look at the high-stakes world of isotopes:

  • Logistics & Precision: Danny explains the invisible dance of moving hazardous materials safely across the globe, ensuring that even the most sensitive gases reach customers without delay.

  • Scientific Discovery: Wietse dives into the Germanium-76 project, where the team had to outrun cosmic radiation to support large-scale physics experiments.

  • Medical Innovation: Brett shares the power of co-creation in developing Zinc-68 for theranostics, a game-changer in cancer treatment that targets tumours while sparing healthy tissue.

Explore the full conversations below to see the passion, the hurdles and the breakthroughs.

Danny Kastenberg

Logistics Coordinator

  • How would you describe yourself as a logistics coordinator at Isotopes?

    We ensure that our shipments arrive on time, safely, and in accordance with all laws and regulations, and that no delays occur. What makes Isotopes' shipments so different from a standard shipment? That is a good question. I think it's because we work with many different materials with various hazardous properties and laws and regulations to take into account. We want our shipments to arrive quickly and safely, and for that, knowledge is simply required. A wrong label or a wrong document can cause delays, and we don't want that.

  • Which shipment demands the most of your knowledge and experience?

    There are many such shipments, of course, but I think I would choose the gases, such as germanium, which we transport by sea. These gases are not allowed to be transported by air. In advance, in consultation with sales, we make clear commercial agreements with our customers. Who is responsible for what? If we are responsible, then we ensure the container is at the port on time, collected from the port again, and at the customer's site on time. And naturally, we do all of that according to the correct laws and regulations.

  • What is the biggest challenge in your work and how do you handle it?

    The biggest challenge is certainly the dangerous goods and ensuring we do everything according to laws and regulations. We must continuously keep our knowledge level up to date regarding IATA air freight, road transport (ADR), and sea transport (the IMO). For this, we are constantly learning and ensuring we check each other's work continuously regarding what we put on the documents to make sure it's correct. And that's how we prevent delays.

  • Much of what you do is not directly visible to the customer; why is it still so important?

    Well, we actually arrange more than just the transport. We are responsible for the entire process around it, and we are always present in the background. Even if the customer wants to use their own carrier, we follow up and ensure that it arrives on time.

  • What keeps you motivated in this field after 18 years?

    Oh, I know that for sure. No two days are the same, no shipment is the same. And something always happens along the way, but every time we manage to get everything to the customer on time.

Wietse Smit

Development Engineer

  • What excites you the most about working in R&D at Urenco?

    What excites me the most is when we have to tackle a difficult challenge or when we have to find solutions to problems which aren't directly obvious. An example of this would be having a specifically tailored enrichment process or finding new solutions to our chemical conversion.

  • Looking back, which project challenged you the most and why?

    I think the Germanium-76 enrichment project was one of the special projects for me. In this project, we had the goal of producing a high amount of high purity germanium oxide which was enriched in the isotope Germanium-76. This material was used in a large-scale physics experiment where the nature of the neutrino particle was studied. And this project really required a lot of expertise from our side regarding the enrichment process, but also regarding the chemical conversion. We had to combine this with new solutions for storage and transport as well, and the overall complexity of the project from our side, combined with the scientific importance, is what made this really special to me.

  • What was the toughest obstacle you faced during that project?

    One of the toughest obstacles was that there were very specific requirements to define a product. One of these requirements was to have a very low amount of germanium-68 within the material. We really had to find new solutions within our cascade process in order to decrease this quantity as much as possible. After the cascade enrichment process, we had to do our chemical conversion and this also had to be done quick, because the germanium-68 formation was due to cosmic radiation. So we had to prevent the cosmic radiation to the product as much as possible, so we did the chemical conversion in a quick way. Furthermore, we had to combine this with a dedicated storage solution to mitigate the formation of germanium-68 and recombine that with a lot of logistics, because the material was being transported quite frequently.

  • From an R&D perspective, what made this project unique?

    For me, what made this unique is that this wasn't just enrichment or conversion in the way that we were used to, but we really had to understand the influence of the cosmic radiation to our product. This was something new to us and we really had to understand these cosmic radiation interactions to our final product.

  • Why does this work matter beyond the lab?

    The material that we produced was being used in large-scale physics research, specifically for the neutrinoless double beta decay research. This research is focused on studying the neutrino particle and would help physicists explain several things in the standard model of physics and would help reveal secrets on how the universe works as it works right now. Knowing that we provided material to help in these discoveries was really motivating to me.

Brett Timmerhuis

Sales Coordinator

  • If you had to explain your work at Urenco in just one sentence, what would you say?

    I connect customers and our development team to turn isotopic challenges into safe solutions that make a difference for medical, industrial and research applications.

  • Which project has made the biggest impression on you and why?

    The Zinc-68 for Theranostics. It showed the true power of co-creation. It started with a customer challenge and through close collaboration we were able to supply Zinc-68 in a specific form that met the quality standards and was suitable for the application of the customer. Contributing to this project really makes us proud.

  • What was the biggest challenge in this project and how did you overcome it?

    Preventing oxidation was by far the biggest hurdle. All early attempts failed because zinc naturally oxidizes, which compromises the target activation in the reactor. Therefore we had to combine our R&D expertise and customer insights to adjust parameters and eventually come to a suitable solution. Which made this project unforgettable.

  • What did that project teach you about collaboration or innovation?

    Well it taught me that true innovation only happens when you break silos. Co-creation isn't just a word. It means sitting together with the customer, sharing experiences, breakthroughs, setbacks and eventually getting to an end result that meets both the quality standards and the application standards.

  • What difference could this coin make for patients?

    Theranostics is a huge game changer within cancer treatment. Doctors are able to trace the tumor with one isotope and target the tumor with another isotope. Making this treatment very effective by targeting only the tumor cells and sparing healthy tissue. That means fewer side effects, faster recovery and ultimately better outcomes for the patients. Knowing that our work contributes to this is very motivating.