Canada reactor shutdown leads to key medical materials shortage

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2007

OTTAWA (AFP) — The shutdown of an aging nuclear reactor in Canada has led to a global shortage of radioactive materials essential for medical tests and treatments for cancer and other diseases, industry officials said.

MDS Nordion, which supplies medical isotopes from the reactor in Chalk River, Ontario for molecular imaging, radiotherapeutics, and analytical instruments, warned Wednesday that the shutdown that began two weeks ago will extend into 2008.

The reactor, owned by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL), was closed for scheduled repairs, sparking the drop in the supply of medical isotopes -- small quantities of radioactive materials which are injected into patients for therapy or to allow nuclear imaging equipment to produce detailed scans for diagnosing...