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 cancer and other diseases.
"We understand that they (AECL) are now targeting a return to full production in early to mid-January," Nordion, a unit of life sciences company MDS Inc., said in a statement.
The company said further modifications are needed to upgrade an electrical back-up system to address regulatory concerns before the reactor can be brought back online.
According to public broadcaster CBC, thousands of medical tests have been postponed in Canada, the United States and other countries because of the isotopes shortage.
Nordion said it "is concerned with the impact that AECL's supply disruption is having on customers and patients … (and) is working closely with its back-up supply network to mitigate the impact."
