Fifty percent of the global supplies of raw materials for medical isotopes are obtained from the Chalk River reactor, which was closed because it failed to meet licensing requirements that seven upgrades be fully operational by Dec. 31, 2005.
A report prepared by Talisman International, and released Monday by the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, said the licenses "were not clear and did not specify in any detail exactly which NRU safety upgrades were to be installed."
The incident highlighted the lack of a plan B by Canada if another isotope shortage occurs, according to Dr. Douglas Abrams, Canadian Society of Nuclear Medicine president.
Each week, 30,000 diagnostic tests and 300 therapeutic doses in Canada rely upon radiopharmaceuticals. They are used in a wide variety of medical applications such as locating tumors, monitoring results of cancer treatments, evaluating heart diseases and diagnosing thyroid diseases.
The Talisman report said junior staff at the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission were aware that the upgrades were not completed, but they didn't think the situation was not grave enough to inform their bosses about it. "Consequently, the status of the (emergency power supply) connections was not effectively communicated within organizations and between organizations," the report pointed out.
To address the problem, Health Canada, Natural Resources Canada and the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited have put in place a communications plan to preclude another extended closure of the Chalk River reactor in the future.
Laryssa Waler, a spokeswoman for Health Minister Tony Clement, said in an email to the Ottawa Sun, the department is working closely with members of the ad hoc working group and its provincial and territorial counterparts to support efforts to develop and implement short-term mitigation measures in case there is a supply disruption of medical isotopes.
