Throughout the history of the industry, Nordion and other global providers of Cobalt-60 have successfully brought on new sources of supply to support growth and replace existing sources.
To meet the growing demand for Cobalt-60, Nordion is pursuing the development of new reactor technology for expanded supply. Intellectual property acquired by Nordion will enable the large-scale production of LSA Cobalt-60 in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWRs), which represent the majority of the world’s 400 nuclear reactors and the 100 reactors in the United States. This technology is being developed with our partners at Westinghouse and the U.S. utilities sector to provide a highly scalable production solution for the global market.
Nordion is supporting a number of refurbishment projects at Ontario reactors producing Cobalt-60, including at Ontario Power Generation (OPG), a longstanding supply partner with significant expertise in the execution of complex nuclear projects. OPG and Nordion are working together to expand production of Cobalt-60 to OPG’s Darlington Nuclear Generating Station (DNGS). As the four largest CANDU units in operation in terms of electrical output, DNGS can produce enough Cobalt-60 to supply approximately 25% of current global demand. OPG and Nordion are also assessing the opportunity to continue Cobalt-60 production at Pickering, following refurbishment of reactors at the Pickering Nuclear Generating Station (PNGS).