APRIL 2012 • PERSPECTIVES: IN BRIEF

With North America’s biggest producer of medical isotopes, the Chalk River nuclear facility in Ontario, set to close in 2016, researchers at TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, have discovered a way for medical facilities to make a key isotope using their existing cyclotrons — equipment that generates radioisotopes for medical imaging.

The team has determined a way to upgrade the cyclotrons to produce technetium-99m (Tc-99m), which is used in critical diagnostic tests for cancers and other diseases. Researchers say there are more than a dozen cyclotrons across Canada that could be retrofitted to maintain the Tc-99m supply.