At a glance
OPG and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority recently signed an agreement to collaborate on fusion and technology research.
Under the agreement, Ontario’s nuclear stations will provide tritium to support nuclear fusion energy research—a potential clean energy source of the future.
Tritium, a critical fuel for fusion, is produced as a by-product at OPG’s Darlington and Pickering stations.
In September, OPG and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding on tritium and fusion energy.
OPG’s nuclear reactors are helping advance research into a potential game-changing clean energy source of the future.
In September, OPG and the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) Group signed a Memorandum of Understanding to work toward providing a secure, reliable supply of tritium produced from Ontario’s nuclear reactors to support the UKAEA’s world-leading research into fusion energy.
Fusion has the potential to deliver abundant, clean energy by harnessing the same process that powers the sun and stars.
The UKAEA Group is developing STEP Fusion, a prototype power plant that aims to create energy by fusing atoms together in a plasma contained within a spherical tokamak.
A critical fuel for this process is tritium — a radioactive isotope of hydrogen that is rare in the natural world but is created as a by-product of the daily operations of a CANDU reactor, the technology used at OPG’s Darlington and Pickering nuclear generating stations.
The announcement builds on a previous collaboration that saw OPG supply tritium for the Joint European Torus fusion experiment at the UKAEA. During its final round of experiments in 2023, the Joint European Torus set the world record for the largest amount of energy achieved in a fusion experiment, breaking its own previous record from 2021.
Did you know? OPG’s nuclear stations are among the world’s only sources of tritium and other important isotopes.
This agreement demonstrates how OPG is leveraging Ontario’s isotope and nuclear expertise to support and power the promise of nuclear fusion.
Kim Lauritsen
Senior Vice President, Enterprise Strategy and Growth, OPG
For three decades, OPG has made tritium from its nuclear operations commercially available for use in self-powered lights, as a source for luminescence in watches, and for medical research.
Formed in the heavy water that sustains the nuclear chain reaction in a CANDU reactor, tritium from OPG’s nuclear fleet is extracted, concentrated, and safely stored in canisters in a concrete vault in OPG’s Tritium Removal Facility at the Darlington Nuclear station, the world’s largest tritium processing facility.
For three decades, OPG has made tritium commercially available for use in self-powered lights, as a source for luminescence in watches, and for medical research.
Now, the isotope is helping advance the next generation of clean energy development. It’s just one of the ways OPG’s nuclear operations are forging a path toward a sustainable future.
“OPG is proud to build on our world-class leadership in producing life-saving medical isotopes and our 50-plus year history of operating safe, clean and reliable nuclear power generation,” said Kim Lauritsen, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Strategy and Growth at OPG. “This agreement demonstrates how OPG is leveraging Ontario’s isotope and nuclear expertise to support and power the promise of nuclear fusion.”
As it decays, tritium also produces another valuable and extremely rare isotope, helium-3, which helps to support quantum computing research and could also be a potential fuel source in fusion reactors.
And these are just a few of the isotopes created within OPG’s nuclear stations and through joint efforts with OPG’s subsidiary, Laurentis Energy Partners, that are helping to save lives, improve safety, and power technological advancement. Other important isotopes include Cobalt-60, used to sterilize 30% of the world’s single-use medical devices, Molybdenum-99, used in more than 30 million diagnostic and medical imaging treatments, Lutetium-177, which is used for prostate cancer therapy, and Yttrium-90, which helps treat several types of cancer.
As the demand for these medical and industrial isotopes grows, OPG and Laurentis Energy Partners will continue to explore new ways to turn nuclear innovation into global impact.
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