Radioisotopes

On of the advantages of thorium power plants that is rarely talked about is the production of various medical isotopes used primarily for cancer treatments. Many believe that these by products will produce enough income to pay the operating cost. These treatment are called targeted alpha therapy and show great promise but treatments are limited by the supply of suitable radioisotopes and this is where thorium reactors come into play. Bismuth 13 is a isotope that does not naturally occur and is used in chemo. Technetium 99 is used in the detection of various medical conditions. The medical molybdenum market accounts for 30 million procedures each year. Iodine 131 is used to treat cancers of the thyroid. Rubidium 82 used for PET imaging. Myocardial perfusion imaging uses thallium 201. Co 60 can focus gamma radiation on precise areas of the brain to fight cancer. Many therapeutic procedures are palliative, usually to relieve pain. For instance, strontium-89 and (increasingly) samarium-153 are used for the relief of cancer-induced bone pain. Rhenium-186 is a newer product for this. These are only few of the chemicals used in medicine and thorium reactors produce them all as valuable by products. The by product of fossil fuels is dirty air and the by product of wind and solar is dirty water.