MDS suing AECL, federal government over reactor cancellation

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MDS Inc. is suing Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. and the federal government, seeking $1.6 billion over the cancellation of the MAPLE reactor project.

The Toronto-based company, a major supplier of nuclear medicine isotopes, said Wednesday it has served AECL with notice that it is seeking arbitration, and at the same time has filed suit alleging negligence and breach of contract. The company's parallel litigation against the government alleges inducement to break a contract and interference with economic relations.

AECL responded with a brief statement asserting that it believes it has met its obligations and will "vigorously defend" itself.

MDS is seeking an order compelling AECL to complete a 40-year supply contract signed with its MDS Nordion division in 2006, and failing that, to pay "significant monetary damages."

The company said its main objective in the legal proceedings is to have AECL replace the National Research Universal reactor in Chalk River, Ont. — which produces two-thirds of the world's medical radioisotopes — with the new MAPLE reactors, whose development the federal Crown corporation abruptly cancelled in May after years of delay and cost escalation.

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Read it [url=http://www.cbc.ca/canada/ottawa/story/2008/07/09/mdsaecl.html]here.[/url]