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The troubled reactor at Chalk River that supports much of Canadian nuclear medicine won’t return to service until late May at the earliest, about a month behind schedule.
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. said in a statement Thursday that complex repairs to the 63-year-old reactor wouldn’t be completed until the second half of May at the earliest — rather than the previous late April target — and it warned more delays were possible.
The reactor went out of service last May after leaking heavy water.
The delays suggest it will likely be June before a new flow of medical isotopes used to diagnose and treat medical conditions is available.
The troubles at the aging reactor, as well as maintenance issues at the handful of other old reactors around the world that support nuclear medicine, have triggered a global research effort to find long-term solutions. Hospitals have had to ration and reschedule available isotopes.
The Chalk River trouble has hit the financial results of MDS Nordion, the company that processes the isotopes.
In the latest update, AECL said 46 per cent of repairs to a leak discovered last spring had been completed, but the next stage would involve “the greatest level of complexity.”
“The very complex nature of the remaining repairs requires that extra precautions be taken. Each of these repairs presents unique and more difficult challenges that require first-of-a-kind technical solutions.”
Meanwhile, U.S. and Canadian health officials have approved the use of the medical isotopes created at a Polish nuclear reactor, health products provider Covidien said Thursday.
The company said material from the Polish reactor should be available in the United States and Canada later this month, helping to ease a shortage of the radioactive material Molybdenum 99, or Mo-99.
Last month, Dublin, Ireland-based Covidien cut a deal with the Institute of Atomic Energy in Poland to shore up supply of the nuclear material, which is made using highly enriched uranium.
A medical isotope is a small quantity of radioactive material used to perform nuclear medicine imaging tests. Isotopes are mixed with different solutions and injected into patients, where they emit energy that special cameras read.
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