Isotopes
Isotopes
Nuclear medicine advances human health and saves lives. Canada is a global leader in medical isotope production, used to sterilize medical devices and diagnose and treat diseases, such as cancer.
- Ontario’s nuclear power plants produce 70% of the world’s supply of cobalt-60, a medical isotope that’s used to sterilize medical equipment, keep food safe, fight the spread of disease and treat cancer.
- More than 40% of all single-use medical devices produced globally are sterilized using cobalt-60.
- The nuclear medicine industry supports 8,500 jobs in Canada.
- The demand for a reliable supply of isotopes continues to grow to support health care systems and research around the world.
![a Photograph of a Bruce Power employee holding the device that would hold the cobalt-60 isotopes while in the reactor.](https://s41095.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Cobalt_007.jpg)
![A graphic of the Cobalt-60 element as it would show on the periodic table.](https://s41095.pcdn.co/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/cobalt-60-icon.jpg)
Cobalt-60 is an essential isotope used in the treatment of cancer
therapeutic doses administered each year in Canada
1
of the world's supply produced by Canada
1
%
nuclear medicine procedures every year
1
M