Isotope 'perfect storm' 5 Nuclear reactors shut down simultaneously, threatening World Supply of Isotopes

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Isotope 'perfect storm' 5 Nuclear reactors shut down simultaneously, threatening World Supply of Isotopes

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Opinion

Barry Artiste

A world shortage of isotopes can have disasterous effects, not only for cancer patients, but research institutes that rely on isotopes for research, including cancer research. How to explain all five nuclear reactors all shutting down at the same time, is even more mysterious, though maintenance procedures are common and for good reason, why all five could not agree with each other to sequence their shutdown times to allow isotope production is also a mystery. 

Radioisotopes are an unstable element that in time undergo radioactive decay and are used in the treatment and diagnosis of cancers, though overexposure can also cause a radiation type of cancer, sort of a double edged sword. Radioisotopes are also used in research and industry as well.

http://www.ottawasun.com/News/National/2008/08/27/pf-6582781.html

Isotope 'perfect storm' Five reactors that produce world's supply of nuclear medicine shut down simultaneously, threatening shortage

By GREG WESTON, NATIONAL BUREAU

Thousands of Canadian cancer patients could be left without critical diagnostic tests in the coming weeks after a potentially disastrous crash in the world supply of nuclear medicines.

Five nuclear reactors in Canada, Europe and South Africa produce almost all of the world's radioactive materials -- called "isotopes" -- that are used in medical scans and cancer treatments.

As of late yesterday, all of the reactors were shut down for reasons unrelated to one another -- what one Canadian official called a "perfect storm" of bad timing and technical mishaps.

The Canadian reactor at Chalk River northwest of Ottawa was shut down for routine maintenance, and is due to be back in service Friday.

It's the same 52-year-old relic that disrupted half the world's isotope supply during a controversial shutdown in December.

That five-week outage of the Chalk River reactor caused the cancellation of an estimated 50,000 medical procedures before the Conservative government legislated it back into service.

As word of this week's virtual black-out of the global isotope industry begins to spread, the medical community is bracing for likely isotope shortages, and their impact on patients.