International isotope suppliers and distributors have turned to reactors in Poland as well as in Russia to expand their sources. so the medical profession would not have to rely on foreign producers. At the annual meeting of the Canadian Medical Association in Saskatoon in August 2009, they passed a resolution calling on the federal government to conduct "open, meaningful and ongoing consultations" with the nuclear-medicine profession on the issue.Īt its annual meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 8, 2010, the U.S.-based Society of Nuclear Medicine chastized Ottawa for the ongoing isotope shortage and called on the American government to ensure that enough isotopes could be produced in the U.S. The prolonged shutdown led to a shortage of the isotopes used in medical imaging - it also led to spikes in the price of isotopes.Ĭanadian doctors expressed their concern about what they called the "prolonged" shortage of medical isotopes. It authorized Atomic Energy of Canada Limited to reload fuel into the reactor.
On July 7, 2010, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission said the reactor was ready to resume production again. 12, 2009, AECL officials announced the NRU reactor would not be able to start producing medical isotopes until at least the following spring. The next day, officials detected a heavy-water leak at the base of the reactor vessel in a place where there is corrosion.ĪECL initially said repairs would take a month, then three. was forced to close the NRU reactor again on May 14, 2009, after the power went out in parts of eastern Ontario and western Quebec. Reactors in all five countries are at least 40 years old - and showing their age.Ītomic Energy of Canada Ltd. And it was underscored again in August 2008 when the other four major producers of isotopes - reactors in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and South Africa - all scheduled maintenance and refuelling stops within weeks of each other. It remains the biggest single source in the world of the isotope cobalt-60, which has been used in cancer treatment for more than half a century.Ĭhalk River's importance gained worldwide attention in 2007 when the reactor was shut down for maintenance, causing a worldwide shortage of medical isotopes. It has been used for scientific research, including the development of nuclear medicine. The National Research Universal (NRU) reactor went fully online at Chalk River, Ont., on Nov. And much of the world's supply is produced in Canada. A sign warns of possible radiation outside the nuclear reactor at the Atomic Energy Canada Ltd.
0 kommentar(er)
