With the hustle and bustle of back to school and peak vacation time coming to an end, you’d be forgiven if you weren’t up to date on your local news.
In case you missed it, Bruce Power recently made an announcement that’s worth highlighting. The company announced late in August that it’s installing a new Isotope Production System (IPS) on Unit 6. This will not only increase the amount of cancer-fighting medical isotopes produced right here in the Clean Energy Frontier of Bruce, Grey and Huron Counties, but also provide redundancy during outages, and expand a unique partnership with Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON).
Bruce Power’s CANDU reactors not only provide safe and reliable clean energy, powering 30 per cent of Ontario’s homes, businesses and hospitals from right here in our backyard, they also produce medical isotopes vital to health-care professionals and patients around the world.
For the past 40 years, Bruce B units have produced cobalt-60 used in Gamma irradiation to sterilize single-use medical devices and equipment such as syringes, gloves, implantable devices, and surgical gowns and masks. A more potent form, known as medical-grade cobalt-60, is also produced and used in radiation therapy in the treatment of complex cancers and conditions through non-invasive procedures.
While the cobalt produced leverages adjustor rods built into the design of CANDU, other isotopes require different engineering. In 2022, Bruce Power, together with its partner Isogen (a Kinectrics and Framatome company), installed an IPS in Unit 7 to become the first commercial power reactor operation to produce lutetium-177, used in targeted radionuclide therapy to treat prostate cancer, and expanding applications in this area. Its precision enables the destruction of diseased cells while largely sparing healthy tissue compared to conventional cancer treatments, offering hope to patients worldwide.
The new IPS in Unit 6 will come online in 2027 and will help ensure a stable supply of lutetium when Unit 7 is taken off-line for its scheduled Major Component Replacement (MCR) outage in 2028.
Bruce Power is also looking into producing other medical isotopes as Canada is emerging as a global leader in the isotope sector.
Bruce Power’s James Scongack is playing an integral role in this field as Chair of the Canadian Nuclear Isotopes Council and Chair of the Nuclear Isotope Innovation Council of Ontario (NIICO), which supports the CNIC’s goal of doubling isotope production in Canada by 2030.
Part of the funding for the new IPS will come from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, which supports the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON) to expand their partnership with Bruce Power.
The expansion strengthens the collaboration known as Gamzook’aamin aakozwin — meaning “we are teaming up to fight the sickness” — which plays a vital role in the global fight against cancer while creating meaningful opportunities for SON communities.
