UK’s nuclear material offers plentiful source for new cancer therapy
24 Nov 2025
Britain’s recycled nuclear material is to be used for the production of new precision cancer treatments.
The United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory (UKNNL) has already developed a means to extract the radionuclide lead-212 from recycled nuclear fuel.
Radionuclides are already employed widely for medical scans. Now, the initiative led by UKNNL and the Medicines Discovery Catapult (MDC) will harness lead-212 for use in so-called Targeted Alpha Therapy, a new radiopharmaceutical application.
The work is being jointly funded by £9.9 million from Innovate UK’s Sustainable Medicines Manufacturing Innovation Programme (SMMIP), with an additional £8.9 million in industry support.
In a statement, science and technology secretary Liz Kendall said scientific breakthroughs were giving hope to almost 3.5 million people in the UK living with cancer.
“It’s incredible to think that we could turn used nuclear fuel into cutting edge cancer treatments – but that is exactly what British scientific brilliance is making possible,” she said.
The UK has an abundant supply of lead-212, via recycled nuclear fuel, which is already harnessed to power homes.
CEO of UKNNL Julianne Antrobus added that access to the UK’s sovereign supply of lead-212 provided “a truly unique opportunity” to transform nuclear expertise into life-saving treatments.
“By developing the infrastructure and processes to unlock the UK’s lead-212 supply, we're not only advancing precision nuclear medicine but also reinforcing the UK's position as a world leader in both nuclear science and healthcare innovation,” she added.
For the process, an amount of lead-212’s parent material – described as equal to a single drop of water in an Olympic-sized swimming pool – is extracted through a series of chemical reactions.
A still smaller amount of lead-212 is then itself extracted from the parent material. Under the required conditions this will be developed by MDC scientists into a therapy that can treat thousands of patients.
MDC’s CEO Professor Chris Molloy remarked that lead-212 was an untapped national asset with extraordinary medical potential.
“By developing therapies from this uniquely sustainable source, with no additional waste, our consortium has the ambition to improve cancer care for patients and to position Britain once again at the forefront of medicinal radiochemistry,” said Molloy.
Pic: Hinkley nuclear power station/ Bilfinger
