Longer wait for cancer diagnoses due to problems with reactor

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2008

THE HAGUE (AFP) — Cancer patients across Europe face a longer wait for their diagnoses after a nuclear reactor in the Netherlands was shut down for safety reasons, its owners said Wednesday.

Activity at the reactor in Petten was suspended following the discovery of air bubbles in the cooling system, the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group (NRG) said in a statement.

The shut-down has led to a shortage of technetium, a medical isotope, which NRG produces at the reactor in the north-west of the country. Medical isotopes are very small quantities of radioactive substance used for medical imaging and the treatment of diseases.

"The consequences of this unplanned stop will have an impact on the medical isotope market," said the company, whose reactor is one of...