Tumour treatment isotope to be made at Bruce-8

Bruce Power is set to place medical-grade cobalt into unit 8 of its nuclear power plant in Ontario, meaning all four Bruce B units will now produce high specific activity (HSA) cobalt, which is used to treat brain tumours worldwide.

HSA cobalt is used as an alternative to traditional brain surgery and radiation therapy for the treatment of complex brain conditions through a specialised, non-invasive knife, which uses gamma radiation to focus 200 microscopic beams of radiation on a tumour or other target. It minimises damage to healthy tissue and lowers side-effects compared to traditional therapy in some cases. Read more.