08/18/2026
Mizzou alumni from Callaway County toured the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR) in Columbia Tuesday (Aug. 18), learning more about the reactor's prominence in cancer treatment.
Among other things, tour participants learned that MU is home to the world’s most important university research reactor for fighting cancer. Last year, 1.6 million patients benefited from medical isotopes produced at MURR.
They learned that MURR's mission is to positively impact society through expertise in nuclear science research, education, and partnerships to improve and save lives across Missouri and the world.
In June, Uriah Orland, director of communications for MURR, was the featured speaker at the year-end banquet for the Callaway County Chapter of the Mizzou Alumni Association. His speech triggered interest in touring the facility.
For 60 years, scientists at MURR have conducted groundbreaking research and collaborated with industry partners to develop unique products, including lifesaving radiopharmaceuticals.
MURR’s prominence as a producer of medical isotopes is part of a six-decade accomplished history. Operating at 10 megawatts, the facility is the highest-power university research reactor in the United States, and its reliability makes it an essential resource for researchers, scientists, engineers, students and industry partners.
NextGen MURR is the university’s initiative to build a new 20-megawatt, state-of-the-art reactor. The new research reactor will expand critical medical isotope research and production for cancer treatment and theranostics.
This project will build on the internationally recognized excellence of MURR and will serve as an innovation and manufacturing hub for nuclear medicine in the United States for decades to come.
For more information on the alumni chapter’s activities, including watch parties and a fall blood drive, contact Ramona Huckstep, president, at [email protected] or visit the chapter’s page, Mizzou Alumni – Callaway County.
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CUTLINES: Mizzou alumni prepare to tour the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR), standing below a sign welcoming them to the facility.
Mizzou alumni gather in front of a sign commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Missouri University Research Reactor (MURR).
