First China-made Medical Co-60 to Enter Market

The first domestically produced Co-60 raw material components were shipped from Qinshan Nuclear Power Station on Sept 10 and will be used in a production line of China Isotope & Radiation Corporation and Chengdu Gaotong Isotope Co., Ltd., both subsidiaries of China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC), for trial operation.

The delivery was proof that CNNC is ready to introduce China's first self-made Co-60 radioactive sources for medical use into the market. The birth of the first China-made gamma knife is imminent.

The production will relieve China's Co-60 supply shortage and contribute to development of the gamma knife industry.

Co-60 is an isotope element of cobalt widely used in agriculture and industry, and especially in medicine.

The Co-60 gamma knife can accurately locate the target and has good effects and little tangential impact. In addition, it is non-invasive and economical.

The features have made it a main tool in tumor therapy.

China had used internationally imported Co-60 for a long period but the material has problems like complicated production, low production efficiency and serious pollution, which delayed patients' treatment and restricted development of China's gamma knife industry.

To solve the problems, CNNC listed domestic-made Co-60 development among the "Dragon Rising 2020" program with the support of several units including the National Nuclear Safety Administration and the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

With joint efforts of many units such as the Qinshan Nuclear Power Station, SPIC Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Research & Design Institute Co., Ltd., CNNC's China Institute of Atomic Energy, China Nuclear Power Engineering Co., Ltd. and CNNC China North Nuclear Fuel Component Co., Ltd., Co-60 was first domestically produced in 2010.

The product's indexes and quality are equal to the same kind internationally.

More than 5,000 curies of Co-60 have been produced since then and the project was nominated in the China Industry Awards.

Development of Co-60 for medical use was officially approved in "Dragon Rising 2020" by CNNC in 2016 and the first batch was made in April 2019. The development laid a foundation for domestic mass production of Co-60.

The first batch of China-made Co-60 for medical use is developed in April 2019. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Zhang Tianyuan)