Ontario will announce plans Thursday to produce a nuclear medical isotope that forms the essential component in a life-saving treatment for liver cancer, one of the leading causes of cancer deaths.This equipment at the Darlington nuclear generating station for production of medical isotopes is called the 'target delivery system.' Its operator, Laurentis Energy Partners, says it is the world’s largest isotope irradiation system.
"Now we have a situation where we have increased capacity, increased reliability and increased proximity, so we couldn't ask for a better partner," said Pattison in an interview. "We're using our nuclear power generation in Ontario to produce these life-saving medical isotopes," said Jason Van Wart, president and CEO of Laurentis, in an interview. "While we're seamlessly making electricity, we're also saving lives."Various medical isotopes have long been used for diagnosis, particularly in scans of the brain and other organs. With advances in technology, they are increasingly being used in treatment.
That system at Darlington will also produce the yttrium-90 isotopes used to make TheraSphere, the treatment for liver cancer, the fourth-most common cause of cancer deaths worldwide.