Nuclear waste: A cancer cure?
In a marriage of strange bedfellows, scientists at one of the country`s most contaminated nuclear waste sites are collaborating with medical researchers to turn nuclear waste into an experimental therapy for cancer. Patients with Hodgkin`s disease and brain, ovarian, and breast cancers may be able to receive the new radiatio-based treatments in the next five to ten years. Recently, scientists at the Hanford site found a way to chemically extract a pure form of the radioisotope yttrium-90 from strontium-90, a by-product of plutonium production. Yttrium-90 is being tested in clinical trials at medical centers around the country as a treatment for various types of cancers, and the initial results are encouraging. The advantage of yttrium-90 over other radioisotopes is its short half-life.
- OSTI ID:
- 161651
- Journal Information:
- Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 103, Issue 7-8; Other Information: PBD: Jul-Aug 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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