[3][4] In April 2014, Phoenix Nuclear Labs was awarded $1 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to design a high-current negative hydrogen ion source under the SBIR Phase II project.

[5][6] In August 2014, Phoenix Nuclear Labs and SHINE Medical Technologies successfully operated the second-generation neutron driver prototype for 24 consecutive hours with a 99% uptime.

[7] In October 2014, Phoenix Nuclear Labs announced that it was awarded a $3 million contract by the U.S. Army to develop an advanced neutron radiography imaging system.

The first contract was a $879,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant to help the company construct a high-flux neutron generator for the purpose of sensing improvised explosive devices (IED).

However, many of these reactors are scheduled to be shut down and they furthermore utilize highly enriched uranium (HEU), which the US considers a nuclear weapons proliferation threat.

The LEU solution is then recycled, achieving extremely efficient[clarification needed] use of uranium and producing much less waste than current molybdenum production methods.

The process produces medical isotopes that fit into existing supply chains while eliminating the use of weapons-grade uranium and reliance on aging nuclear reactors.

[15] For example, the Canadian National Research Universal reactor (NRU) in Chalk River, Ontario currently produces these medical isotopes.