Missouri’s governor and east-central Missouri U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-St. Elizabeth) will be in Columbia for Monday’s groundbreaking ceremony at Mizzou for the $20-million expansion of the current MU Research Reactor (MURR).
UM System President Dr. Mun Choi and UM Board of Curators chair Michael Williams will also be speaking at Monday afternoon’s ceremony. University of Missouri officials say the 47,000 square feet three-story addition to the MURR will expand the facility’s production space and testing laboratories to offer researchers and students more resources.
State Rep. Kathy Steinhoff (D-Columbia) tells 939 the Eagle that the MURR produces critical medical isotopes. The current MURR near South Providence is licensed through 2037, and is down the hill from Faurot Field. It was built in 1966 and cost about $1.5 million to build.
Representative Steinhoff tells 939 the Eagle that Columbia’s MURR is the top-ranked University research reactor in the nation, emphasizing that the reactor produces a medical isotope that battles various cancers worldwide.
MURR’s website describes the reactor as the nation’s most powerful university research reactor. It operates at 10-megawatts.
