CLARINGTON — The life-saving medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) — used for patients who need skeletal, brain and organ imaging to detect and diagnose harmful diseases — will soon be produced at the Darlington nuclear power plant.
Darlington Nuclear will be the first large-scale commercial nuclear power station in the world to produce Mo-99. The Clarington reactors will help ensure the long-term supply of the critical medical isotope that is used in more than 30 million life-saving diagnostic and medical treatments each year. Mo-99 is a parent isotope of technetium-99 (Tc-99m) which is used for imaging to detect and diagnose heart disease, cancer and more.
The new Mo-99 isotope production is made possible by the recently-announced collaboration between Ontario Power Generation’s subsidiary Canadian Nuclear Partners and a subsidiary of BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT). BWXT will take the material from Darlington to their facility near Ottawa to process and produce the medical isotope.
The proposal to produce Mo-99 at Darlington will need regulatory reviews and approvals, from the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission and Health Canada. The Clarington nuclear plant is expected to start production of the medical isotope by the end of 2019.
