Canada getting out of isotope business, Harper says

19 posts / 0 new

Wed, 2009-06-10 18:47

Snuckles

Quote:
Prime Minister Stephen Harper says that Canada will be getting out of the medical isotope business.

Canada produces at least one-third of the world's medical isotopes, which are used in cancer and heart scans, at the aging Chalk River facility.

At a news conference, Harper said that the plan is to bring Chalk River, now out of service, back online and working as long as possible, while working with the global community and private business for alternatives sources.

Officials say the Chalk River reactor is planned to continue operating until 2016, at which point other countries and businesses would take over to meet global demand.

Read it [url=http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090610/isotope_cri....

Wed, 2009-06-10 21:13

Doug

How could we possibly stop making those sexy, sexy isotopes?

This seems really short-sighted to me. I doubt that the demand for nuclear medicine is going to do anything but increase.

Thu, 2009-06-11 00:05

Boom Boom

Harper made reference to the hundreds of millions of dollars poured (wasted) into this matter - and with references to Maple One and Two, and didn't blame the Liberals, but reminded us this all happened while the Liberals were the government - but Don Newman and another pundit reminded us on Politics that the Conservatives (under Mulroney) were the government in the 1980s and obliquely suggested the blame goes further back than Harper suggested. It's been a totally bungled file and bungled by both Liberals and Conservatives.

Thu, 2009-06-11 01:56

NorthReport

Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when we set out to deceive.

GOODALE ACCUSED OF ISOTOPE COVER-UP

Quote:
The Conservatives also went on the attack Wednesday, charging that the Liberals knew the Chalk River reactor was near-death while they were in power.

The Tories say that former Liberal natural resources minister Ralph Goodale knew about the reactor's problems in 2003, and alleged that the minister knew that two replacement projects were in deep trouble.

Raitt called it "unforgivable" and said the Liberals didn't fund Atomic Energy of Canada properly.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090610/isotope_cri...

Thu, 2009-06-11 08:29

remind

Finally someone mentioned the 2 replacement projects that had been on line as a go but were halted for some reason. Why?

Thu, 2009-06-11 08:53

Boom Boom

Maple I and Maple II were commissioned in the 1980s when Mulroney was PM. They were designed to replace the NRU at Chalk River, and to be online by 2000. In 2008, with construction seven years behind schedule and at great cost overrun (many hundreds of millions of dollars over budget) and with tech problems that no one could solve, Gary Lunn pulled the plug on both Maples I and II. It can be said that Mulroney and his Progressive Conservative government share the blame for the Maples reactor fiasco because they allowed construction to proceed on an ultimately faulty design, although no one at the time (the 1980s, remember) knew of the tech problems that would develop. It's just a total catastrophe that has burned the fingers of every government involved.

Thu, 2009-06-11 09:08

remind

Why couldn't they jsut have made one like the one they currently had?

Thu, 2009-06-11 09:35

Boom Boom

Because the current one is based on antique technology that no one uses any longer. Maples I and II were meant to be high tech replacements for the NRU at Chalk River.

ETA: and don't forget, the current reactor at Chalk River has been plagued with many very expensive problems of its own. Who would want to build a new reactor based on an old design that has caused a hell of a lot of money in repair bills over its life span?

ETA: the nuclear industry is a money sinkhole - and perhaps Harper is doing the right thing in getting Canada out of the isotope business - but privatizing the industry is going to drive the price of isotopes sky high, and ultimately someone has to pay.

ETA: I am trying to remember the status of the Chalk River reactor in the 1980s, but can't. I don't think it was as plagued by leaks and shutdowns as much as it is today, but perhaps Maples I and II were simply proposed as ultimate replacements for the current NRU at Chalk River, because certainly no one thought it would be in operation forever.

Thu, 2009-06-11 09:46

remind

Well, that "antique" technology certainly worked, while apparently the new and improved did/does not.

Was watching a program on a archeological dig Sweden was involved with. They found jewelry that they have no idea how it could have been made back then, as we certainly do not have the technological experience today to do so. Much the same can be said for all those huge irrigation pots littering the Cuba countryside. The ability to make them has long been lost because of allegedly new and improved technologies and now that they are finally, after 100's of years decaying, farmers do not know what they will do to replace them..

In our head long push to allegedly advance, based on new and improved, much is lost.

I cite babble as a good example too.

Thu, 2009-06-11 10:10

#10

Boom Boom

remind wrote:
Well, that "antique" technology certainly worked, while apparently the new and improved did/does not.

But not without very, very expensive repairs caused by many leaks and other problems in its long history - and the inconvenience caused by these shutdowns, as at present, when no isotopes are being produced because of yet another leak, leading to the current crisis of isotope shortage worldwide.

Thu, 2009-06-11 10:36

#11

remind

Well the leaks are not really technological now are they are they? That is structural and mechanical integrity.

Personally, I just see this as the way to stop cancer treatments and diagnosis globally, without saying they are doing so. Just let em die, as part of the long range plan to remove services and treatments for all those but the wealthy.

Thu, 2009-06-11 10:46

#12

Boom Boom

It's not just the leaks of heavy water from the reactor, but also problems with power outage that have caused the reactor to be offline as well. These are design and tech problems, not to mention aging.

Fri, 2009-06-12 10:11

#13

Snuckles

[url=http://www.canada.com/Technology/Tests+backup+reactor+produced+isotopes+... of backup reactor produced isotopes, MPs hear[/url]

Quote:
OTTAWA — A brand-new backup nuclear reactor at Chalk River, Ont. produced enough medical isotopes during some test runs to supply the needs of every Canadian hospital and clinic, a parliamentary committee was told Thursday, putting a dent in one argument the Conservatives have been using to defend their decision last spring to mothball that backup plan.

The revelation that the MAPLE reactors at Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.'s Chalk River Laboratory did indeed produce the isotope Moly-99, the key ingredient used in pharmaceutical radioisotopes, came on the same day doctors in Quebec said as many as 12,000 patients there have had their cancer and cardiac tests put off because of a shortage of those isotopes.

Fri, 2009-06-12 12:15

#14

remind

So, it is just a muse so that they can sell it off to rpivate concerns then, perhaps MDS Metro?

Fri, 2009-06-12 12:34

#15

Lard Tunderin Jeezus Lard Tunderin Jeezus's picture

remind wrote:

So, it is just a ruse so that they can sell it off to private concerns then, perhaps MDS Metro?

Bingo. The ol' Con game - privatizing public assets. Flaherty's an old hand at it. He gave Conservative friends of the government hundreds of millions worth of our assets in Ontario for tens of millions of dollars.

Fri, 2009-06-12 12:52

#16

Tigana

Medical isotopes do not worry me as much as the rest of the radioactive gunk that is used and released with no means or plans for appropriate cleanup or storage. One sneaky solution has been found: Canadian reactor waste is used to harden weapons by the military. Depleted uranium - there's a real killing joke. http://www.ccnr.org/

Are purchaser Bechtel/ puppetmasters Bilderberg lurking in the wings? http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/bilderberg-group/

Warning: shocking info, and something we MUST deal with.

http://www.apfn.org/apfn/du.HTM

Fri, 2009-06-12 13:35

#17

Boom Boom

Interesting info about Maple I and II. Will someone confront the govt about this?

Fri, 2009-06-12 23:07

#18

Tigana

Boom Boom wrote:

Interesting info about Maple I and II. Will someone confront the govt about this?

Another learning curve...

Wikipedia on MAPLE http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAPLE

http://ontario-geofish.blogspot.com/2007/12/primer-aecl-maple-reactors-m...

Mon, 2010-03-08 08:08

#19

Boom Boom

Precious medical isotopes could be shipped overseas

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/precious-medical-isotopes-c...

excerpt:

Federal Natural Resources Minister Christian Paradis, who is responsible for the nuclear file, referred questions to AECL, whose CEO acknowledged that there is no requirement that any of the medical isotopes produced at Chalk River be reserved for Canadian patients.

(I can't see my HTML buttons so can not hot-link article)