4. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Developing Technological Clusters in Wales — Medical radioisotope production and nuclear medicine expertise

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:20 pm on 10 January 2023.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:20, 10 January 2023

I think the two detailed questions are actually around some of the points that we're looking to address in both the technical specifications around what we'd want to do on the site, but then the broader call for people to be involved not just in the creation of a radioisotope production facility, likely to be in north-west Wales because of the likely candidate sites, but what that then means in terms of research and collaboration with both other Welsh universities and other institutions around the UK. There is no facility like this within the UK, and if we're successful in creating it, I fully anticipate that there will be significant UK-wide interest in the potential for a technology cluster and high-level UK research and funding to go alongside it.

I think you make an important point about our current supplies of radioisotopes. We don't produce any within the UK in any material way. What we do is we rely on production from European Union countries, essentially. There's all the transport of those in. I remember from the difficulties of considering what a 'no deal' Brexit might look like on more than one occasion that the ability to successfully import radioisotopes was a significant factor within that. We know, and we knew at the time, that that production would come to an end at some point in Western Europe, who we currently rely upon. So, it highlights the fact that we've known that this is a challenge, we're planning for it, and we do have a plan in Wales about how to address it, not just for us, but for the wider UK, and, indeed, countries nearby where there's a potential for export, because, at the moment, there aren't other proposals to try to fill this gap in other comparable healthcare systems. As we get through this stage of it, I'll be more than happy to come back on the detail and the potential.