Bruce Power produces medical isotope for cancer treatment

Isotope Delivery System at Framatome facility near Kincardine. Fuel Handling Operators train on the system before it’s installed in Bruce B, Unit 7. Bryce Hoover, Shaun McLaren, Brad Jones (operators). Curt Davidson (Framatome).

ONTARIO — An international collaboration between Bruce Power, Isogen, and ITM Isotope Technologies Munich SE, is marking the production of first instance lutetium-177 at a commercial nuclear power reactor.

Lutetium 177 is a a short-lived medical isotope, and Bruce Power says its production signifies years of hard work and the collaborative efforts of hundreds of people.

The parties involved used a new Isotope Production System (IPS) that they installed in Bruce Power’s Unit 7 during a planned maintenance outage. The IPS irradiated targets to produce lutetium-177, a medical isotope used in precision oncology for targeted therapy of a growing number of cancers.

Lutetium-177 based treatments are designed to precisely target malignant cells while sparing surrounding healthy tissues.

“Bruce Power and our partners at Isogen, ITM, and Saugeen Ojibway Nation are thrilled to have reached this exciting milestone, bringing our partnership project to its final phase as we complete commissioning and approach commercial operations,” said James Scongack, Bruce Power’s chief development officer and executive vice president, operational services.

“We are proud to demonstrate the power of using Bruce Power’s CANDU reactors to provide large-scale, reliable production of critical medical isotopes to use in the fight against cancer.”

ITM will receive exclusive access to the irradiation service provided by the IPS for the production of lutetium-177, further expanding its capabilities of producing this isotope at a large scale for hospitals worldwide, global partners, and ITM’s own clinical pipeline of radiopharmaceuticals for hard-to-treat cancers.