Overview

Ontario is a global leader in producing life-saving medical isotopes, which are critical to diagnose and treat cancer and other serious diseases.

Ontario’s CANada Deuterium Uranium reactors (CANDU) at Darlington, Pickering and Bruce — as well as research reactors — produce a reliable supply of these essential isotopes that support patients and healthcare providers in Canada and around the world.

Ontario’s nuclear industry also provides reliable, affordable and clean electricity to our power grid. This makes up about 50% of Ontario’s electricity with zero-emissions power, helping to fuel a healthier population and a strong economy.

Uses of isotopes

Nuclear isotopes are essential tools in modern healthcare, used to diagnose and treat a wide range of diseases, including:

  • sterilization of medical equipment
  • diagnostic imaging
  • cancer treatment
  • fighting insect and food-borne diseases
  • analyzing mining samples
  • quality testing for industrial materials

Jobs, economy and exports

In Canada, the production, processing and distribution of medical isotopes has created 8,500 jobs, most of which are in Ontario. Ontario’s medical isotope sector includes:

  • nuclear power and research reactors
  • nuclear supply chain companies
  • healthcare entities

The nuclear medicine market is estimated to increase by 15% per year until 2026, and reach between US$14 billion and $33 billion by 2031.

List of nuclear isotopes

We produce 8 nuclear isotopes across 5 locations in Ontario. Learn more about each isotope, what they’re used for and where they’re produced.

Cobalt-60

Cobalt-60 is used to:

  • sterilize medical equipment
  • treat cancer
  • preserve food

It is produced at Bruce, Pickering and Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations (NGS).

Molybdenum-99

Molybdenum-99, is essential for:

  • diagnostic imaging
  • helping doctors detect illnesses like cancer and heart disease
  • saving lives through early detection

It will be produced at Darlington NGS (production is expected to begin in 2025).

Lutetium-177

Lutetium-177 is used for:

  • precision oncology for targeted radionuclide therapy of numerous cancers, including neuroendocrine tumours and prostate cancer

It is produced at Bruce NGS and Darlington NGS (production planned pending regulatory approval).

Actinium-225

Actinium-225 is essential for:

  • targeted cancer therapies
  • non-invasive cancer treatments
  • cancer treatments with fewer side effects

It is produced by Chalk River Laboratories (operated by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories).

Helium-3

Helium-3 is used for:

  • quantum computing
  • neutron research
  • border security
  • medical imaging

It is produced at Darlington NGS by extracting it from tritium stored at the facility. This makes OPG the first civilian, non-military source of Helium.

Holmium-166

Holmium-166 is essential for:

  • fighting liver cancer
  • delivering radiation directly to tumors
  • minimizing damage to surrounding healthy tissue during treatments

It is produced at McMaster Nuclear Reactor.

Iodine-125

Iodine-125 is used in:

  • brachytherapy
  • imaging
  • radiation therapy to treat prostate cancer, uveal melanomas and brain tumors

It is produced at McMaster Nuclear Reactor and provides cancer treatments for about 70,000 patients a year.

Yttrium-90

Yttrium-90 is crucial for:

  • diagnosing and treating prostate and liver cancer and neuroendocrine tumors

It will be produced by Darlington NGS (production planned in 2025 pending regulatory approval)

Ontario medical isotopes production locations

Ontario plays a pivotal role in the global production of nuclear medical isotopes. There are 16 operable CANDU reactors across 3 different nuclear generating stations (NGS) in Ontario:

  • Pickering NGS
  • Darlington NGS
  • Bruce NGS

Each of these generating stations plays an important role producing medical isotopes. Life-saving medical isotopes are also produced at nuclear research facilities in Ontario — at McMaster University and Chalk River Laboratories.

Pickering NGS

Pickering NGS houses 4 operating nuclear reactors — 3 of which can produce the medical isotope Cobalt-60.

Darlington NGS

Darlington NGS has 4 nuclear reactors. Darlington currently produces Cobalt-60, and Helium-3 is extracted from the tritium (a by-product of CANDU reactor operation) stored at the site. This facility has plans to produce Molybdenum-99, Yttrium-90 and Lutetium-177 soon, using a specialized Target Delivery System installed at the Darlington NGS.

Bruce NGS

Bruce NGS has 8 nuclear reactors and produces the Lutetium-177 and Cobalt-60 isotopes used in medical procedures. It is the first commercial nuclear power reactor in the world to produce Lutetium-177. It uses an Isotope Production System (IPS), which is the first of its kind.

McMaster Nuclear Reactor

McMaster’s reactor is the most powerful research reactor in Canada and is the only major neutron source in the country.

McMaster University is the world’s leading supplier of both Holmium-166 and Iodine-125. The McMaster Nuclear Reactor produces hundreds of doses of Iodine-125 every week, which is half of the world’s supply of Iodine-125. Over 70,000 cancer patients are reached worldwide every year with these isotopes.

Chalk River Laboratories (Canadian Nuclear Laboratories)

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) operates the Chalk River Laboratories site in Ontario which is one of few facilities currently capable of producing Actinium-225 in research-scale quantities. Actinium-225 is so rare that the entire global supply produced each year is less than a grain of sand.