{"id":140607,"date":"2026-03-17T12:20:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:20:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/140607\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T12:20:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T12:20:06","slug":"terrapower-isotopes-coming-to-bellwether-district-in-south-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/140607\/","title":{"rendered":"TerraPower Isotopes coming to Bellwether District in South Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">TerraPower Isotopes, part of a nuclear power company founded by Bill Gates, plans $450 million plant in the Bellwether District to make radioactive molecules for cancer research and potential treatments, Gov. <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/topic\/josh-shapiro\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Josh Shapiro<\/a> announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Bellwether\u2019s developer HRP Group will build a 250,000-square-foot facility for the Bellevue, Wash., company <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/real-estate\/commercial\/south-philadelphia-refinery-warehouse-construction-20240314.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/real-estate\/commercial\/south-philadelphia-refinery-warehouse-construction-20240314.html\">at the former refinery site<\/a>. Terrapower Isotopes is expected to employ 225 people in Philadelphia to meet anticipated demand for a type of molecule that can be used to kill tumors without damaging surrounding tissue.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">TerraPower\u2019s material, an isotope called actinium-225, is ultimately derived from weapons-grade uranium. Researchers are exploring precision cancer treatments that involve attaching actinium-225 to an antibody that is targeted to specific cancer cells. The isotope then emits high doses of radiation at close range.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">\u201cThis new facility is a testament to the demand for actinium-225 as part of the growing industry, which is transforming how cancer is treated,\u201d TerraPower Isotopes President Scott Claunch said in Shapiro\u2019s announcement. \u201cOur team is proud to be building a large-scale manufacturing facility in Philadelphia, which will play a pivotal role in expanding global access to this rare isotope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">Pennsylvania government is supporting the project with $10 million in grants. The Bellwether District is in a Keystone Opportunity Zone that has tax benefits through 2043. That means TerraPower Isotopes won\u2019t have to pay many state and local taxes, though it will remain responsible for city wage taxes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"inq-p text-primary  \">TerraPower Isotopes, which is part of a bigger nuclear sciences company called TerraPower, is the second radiopharmaceutical company to announce a factory in the region. In 2024, Nucleus RadioPharma, which counts <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/topic\/fox-chase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fox Chase<\/a> Cancer Center <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/health\/fox-chase-mayo-clinic-nucleus-radiopharma-20231017.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/health\/fox-chase-mayo-clinic-nucleus-radiopharma-20231017.html\">among its investors<\/a>, shared plans for a 48,000-square-foot facility in Spring House, <a class=\"relative z-1 text-blue-mid hover:shadow-lightmode\" data-link-type=\"article-body\" href=\"https:\/\/www.inquirer.com\/topic\/montgomery-county\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Montgomery County<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TerraPower Isotopes, part of a nuclear power company founded by Bill Gates, plans $450 million plant in the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[69,71,70,64448],"class_list":{"0":"post-140607","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-philadelphia","9":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","10":"tag-philadelphia-news","11":"tag-terrapower-isotopes-cancer-bellwether-district-philadelphia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}