Bruce Power, Nordion ensure global Cobalt-60 supply up to 2064

Bruce Power and Nordion have entered into an agreement to secure the long-term supply of Cobalt-60 up to 2064.

The agreement extends a previous supply arrangement that would have expired at the end of 2028 and now covers the life of the four Bruce B reactors, which will operate up to 2064 once life-extension maintenance programs are completed over the next two decades. The agreement also includes the supply of medical-grade ‘High Specific Activity’ Cobalt.

The new supply agreement is the longest and most comprehensive in Nordion’s history, and demonstrates the shared commitment of Nordion and Bruce Power to ensure a reliable, stable supply of Cobalt-60 for customers and medical patients around the world.

Cobalt-60 is a mainstay of the global health care system, used as a radiation source to sterilize medical devices and supplies, in the decontamination of spices and consumer goods, and as a phytosanitary measure for reduction of pests on produce for import and export.

“This agreement guarantees our customers and health care providers will have a stable, secure Cobalt-60 supply they can count on for the next half century,” said Ian Downie, Nordion’s vice-president and general manager, Gamma Technologies. “The exceptional duration of this arrangement is a testament to the strong working relationship that Nordion and Bruce Power have built.”

Mike Rencheck, Bruce Power’s president and chief executive officer, said his company has always placed enormous value on the production of Cobalt for medical device sterilization and other applications.

“With this long-term agreement, we are demonstrating our commitment to, and confidence in, the use of clean nuclear power to provide safe hospitals for patients in Ontario and around the world.”

Bruce Power’s ability to guarantee the Cobalt-60 supply so far into the future was made possible through the long-term electricity supply agreement signed in December, 2015, with the Province of Ontario. This agreement provides for life-extension and Major Component Replacement programs to be conducted on Units 3-8.

The life-extension programs got under way Jan. 1, 2016, and the program is currently on time and on budget. Bruce Power previously refurbished Units 1 and 2 and will use that experience to extend the life of the eight-unit site up to 2064.

The Bruce Nuclear site has produced Cobalt-60 since the 1980s and is currently the world’s largest supplier.

Bruce Power and Nordion also recently announced a partnership for the production of medical-grade Cobalt, which is covered within the scope of the new agreement.

For more than six decades, Nordion’s supply of medical-grade Cobalt has come from the National Research Universal reactor at Chalk River, which will reach its end-of-life by March 31, 2018. The first medical-grade Cobalt targets were inserted into the Unit 7 reactor at Bruce Power this past October.