Bruce Power is celebrating two years of commercial medical isotope production.
Two years ago, Bruce Power became the first commercial producer of lutetium-177. which is used in fighting cancer.
Chief Operating Officer James Scongack spoke at this week’s council meeting in Kincardine, explaining that the company is continuing to expand their production efforts.
He said that the goal is to have facilities for further processing either within the municipality, or on-site near Bruce B to help with processing before shipping.
“[T]he reason why that is so important is when an isotope comes out of a reactor given its half-life, it’s really like an ice cube, and like I always say you have to get it form the reactor and into a patient’s glass for treatment,” said Scongack.
Currently, lutetium-177 is produced in the reactor, and then shipped to Bruce Power’s partner ITM Radiofarma, which is located in Munich, Germany.
The company says that since they began production of lutetium-177 at Bruce Power’s Unit 7 reactor, they haven’t missed a shipment of isotopes to ITM.
“[T]he more steps that there are in the process that are outside of that from the production to the radiopharmaceutical processing, actually wastes a lot of that valuable isotope,” Scongack explained. “So we look forward to moving, in particular what we call decanting, so further processing of the target once it comes out of the reactor right here locally, and that it going to be incredibly exciting.”
The isotope is used in precision oncology, more specifically targeted therapy for a growing number of cancers, including neuroendocrine tumours.
Bruce Power is also grateful for their growing partnership with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation as the company operates on Treaty territory. They’ve also worked to help create economic opportunities since establishing their partnership in 2019.
Scongack told Kincardine Council that he’s not sure what the timeline will be for such an undertaking, but the $3 million commitment is in the power company’s budget for 2025.