Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:11:5
AHN Staff
Chalk River, Ontario, Canada (AHN) - As the Atomic Energy of Canada Limited rushes to bring back to operation its nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, the global medical isotope crisis triggered by the AECL's unexpected shutdown may continue with the temporary closure of the Petten reactor in the Netherlands.
The aging Petten reactor is scheduled for repair on Feb. 19 to fix leaks and may remain shuttered throughout summer. The Chalk River facility's opening will be delayed by at least one month.
With the two nuclear plants jointly producing 60 percent of the global supply of medical isotopes, doctors from Canada and other parts of the world are wary that the supply shortage may worsen before it improves.
Since the Chalk River reactor shutdown in May, Canadian hospitals and clinics maximize medical procedures whenever isotopes are available and are idle when there's no supply.
On the long-term, several nations are planning to build new reactors to retire the aging plans like the Chalk River and Petten. One facility in the blueprint stage is the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Plant in Romania. AECL announced on Monday that it signed a major contract with SC EnergoNuclar to assess the technical and commercial viability and planning of the Units 3 and 4 investment project of Cernavoda. Units 1 and 2 have been operational since 2008.
AECL President and Chief Executive Office Hugh MacDiarmid said in a statement, "AECL has been active in Romania since the early 1980's and has been a primary contributor to the nuclear infrastructure in the Romanian market. We are delighted to be working with EnergoNuclear to strengthen Romania's nuclear capability. Our CANDU 6 reactor is the top performing reactor in the world with a lifetime capacity factor of almost 90 per cent, and we believe that this track record of high performance will continue with Units 3 and 4."
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