COLUMBIA — The University of Missouri held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the opening of the newest addition to the MU Research Reactor facility.
The new addition, MURR West, is a $20 million, 47,000-square-foot project that took about 18 months to complete. The three-story addition to the existing building expands the workspace available for staff and allows for more future collaborations with researchers and industry partners.
"This $20 million, 47,000-square-feet building not only represents an investment in our physical infrastructure, but it is an investment in the future of research and production that will impact lives throughout the world," said Matt Sanford, executive director of MURR.
Last year, 1.6 million cancer and cardiac patients were treated with radioisotopes produced at MURR.
The new addition will give MU the space it needs to expand its research programs. The first floor will provide 16,000 square feet for research initiatives, medical isotope production and collaborative projects with MU researchers and industry partners.
"This space will be the home of future researchers, and companies who are working hard to bring new technologies to life and they will do it here with help from the University of Missouri and all the people at MURR that solve the most difficult challenges in nuclear science," Sanford said.
The second and third floors will provide space for the employees currently working in temporary buildings, manufacturing support, research and development, and regulatory documents and records. It also offers shell space for future expansion.
The addition to MURR is just the most recent expansion. In a few weeks, MU will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for two more buildings: a new addition to increase production of no-carrier-added Lutetium-177 and an addition that will create more storage and support for the increased NCA Lu-177 production.
"We are going to be saving and improving lives," UM System President and MU Chancellor Mun Choi said. "That's not just a tagline. That is a belief, a deep principle belief that we have at this university."
