The completion of Bruce Power’s on-site hot cell facility marks a massive milestone for Canada’s medical isotope sector, allowing the critical process of Target Carrier Removal to occur directly on site. Located at the central Bruce Power nuclear station in Tiverton, Ontario, this infrastructure directly accelerates the global supply chain for lutetium-177, a critical isotope used in targeted prostate cancer therapies.
The facility was delivered through a Canadian collaboration of Bruce Power, Kinectrics and Bird Construction, alongside a broad cross-functional team from across Bruce Power’s operations, engineering, licensing, radiation protection, safety and project delivery organisations.
Kinectrics and Bird Construction served as the core delivery partners responsible for the technical design, specialised manufacturing, and physical build of the hot cell facility. While Bruce Power integrates the facility into its daily nuclear operations and licensing frameworks, the two partners provided the external specialised expertise needed to complete the high-security structure.
Kinectrics as lead architect, led the comprehensive design and engineering phases of the specialised facility. The company manufactured the nuclear-grade hot cell unit at its specialised facility in Etobicoke, Ontario. The company supplied the specialised internal equipment and robotic precision manipulators required to safely extract the irradiated quartz ampules. Technology Co-developer: alongside Framatome (via their Isogen joint venture), Kinectrics continues to co-develop the underlying Isotope Production System (IPS) technology used in the reactors.
Bird Construction acted as the primary construction contractor responsible for erecting the heavily reinforced infrastructure on the central Bruce Power site. Bird managed the complex pouring and placement of over 90,000 kilograms of radiation-shielding concrete. The team installed the facility’s high-security 7,000-kilogram personnel door and fitted the lead-glass viewing windows into the structure, ensuring a secure seal between the operators and the highly radioactive target materials.
Operators can now use specialised cutting tools to remove carrier materials and extract irradiated quartz ampules directly on site, a step previously outsourced to off-site locations. With construction finalised, the facility is currently transitioning through the licensing, commissioning, and testing phases. Active operations will commence as soon as the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) approves an updated lutetium-177 licence application. Extracted ampules will continue to be shipped directly to ITM in Munich, Germany, for final medical-grade processing. Plans are already underway to expand capacity further by installing a secondary Isotope Production System inside Unit 6.
The isotope programme is heavily supported by the Gamzook’aamin aakoziwin partnership with the Saugeen Ojibway Nation (SON). A portion of the revenue generated through lutetium-177 production goes directly toward funding SON community initiatives and local economic growth. The expansion directly supports Ontario’s government initiative to double provincial medical isotope production by 2030.
“Today’s milestone represents the next chapter in Bruce Power’s leadership in producing cancer-fighting medical isotopes and demonstrates what can be achieved through Canadian innovation, expertise and partnership,” said James Scongack, Bruce Power’s Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice-President. “From the design and engineering work to construction and project execution, this facility showcases the strength of Ontario’s nuclear industry and supply chain. By bringing more of the isotope supply chain infrastructure and activities on site, we are creating a more efficient pathway to deliver cancer-fighting therapies to patients around the world while reinforcing Canada’s position as a global medical isotope superpower.”
Bruce Power has played a leading role in isotope production for decades. Since 1986, cobalt-60, used to sterilise approximately 30% of the world’s single-use medical devices, has been produced at the Bruce site. Since 2021, Bruce Power has also produced medical-grade cobalt-60 used in radiation therapy treatments, and in 2022, the company’s Isotope Production System (IPS) became the first commercial nuclear power reactor in the world to produce lutetium-177.
The system functions by inserting specialised target containers filled with ytterbium-176 into the core of Bruce Power’s unit 7. Intense neutron irradiation inside the operating power reactor alters the atomic structure, converting it into non-carrier-added lutetium-177. The new hot cell further expands that leadership and supports future growth, including plans to expand isotope production capabilities through an additional IPS in unit 6.
