Dec 25, 2020
Media release BWXT make significant progress towards producing life-saving isotope at Darlington
Posted by Omuterema Akhahenda in categories: biotech/medical, nuclear energy
Peterborough, ON — Ontario Power Generation (OPG), its subsidiary Laurentis Energy Partners (Laurentis), BWXT ITG Canada Inc. and its affiliates (BWXT) are making significant progress toward the production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) at OPG’s Darlington Nuclear Generating Station. Mo-99 is a much-needed medical isotope used in over 40 million procedures a year to detect cancers and diagnose various medical conditions.
Over the past 24 months, a team of more than 100 personnel at BWXT and Laurentis designed specialized tooling at BWXT’s facility in Peterborough to enable the production of Mo-99 at Darlington. The manufacturing of this specialized tooling is currently underway at the same BWXT facility in Peterborough.
BWXT has also built a fabrication facility at its current location in Peterborough to produce Mo-99 components that will be delivered by the specialized tooling, which will be installed at Darlington. The tooling will deliver the molybdenum into the Darlington reactor for irradiation, which will enable Darlington to become the first commercial operating nuclear reactor to produce Mo-99.