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The Ottawa Citizen

December 20, 2007

Jessey Bird

Medical isotopes back in production

CHALK RIVER - As political fallout from Chalk River continued to spread, Health Minister Tony Clement vowed yesterday to "get to the bottom" of the nuclear reactor shutdown that resulted in a worldwide shortage of medical isotopes.

Mr. Clement was besieged by questions from reporters yesterday as he toured the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. facility, which returned to service on Sunday.

Reporters wanted to know when the government was first made aware of the reactor's shutdown.

Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn has told the House of Commons that he first learned of the shutdown on Dec. 3, but the former chairman of

AECL, Michael Burns, has said the minister was informed on Nov. 22 that the reactor was not going to return to service as scheduled.

Mr. Clement sidestepped questions surrounding the government's management of the crisis and instead praised the "heroic" staff of the Chalk River facility.

"This is a momentous day," Mr. Clement said. "We have the facility up and running again ... producing medical isotopes."

The reactor was closed on Nov. 18 after Canada's nuclear watchdog, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, advised that the reactor needed serious upgrades.

Last week, however, the Harper government rushed emergency legislation to reopen the reactor through the House of Commons despite the concerns expressed by the nuclear safety regulator.

Isotopes from the reactor are distributed by a private firm, MDS Nordion, for use in medical tests to diagnose conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

The reactor's shutdown caused shortages of isotopes in hospitals and clinics around the world.

In response to reporters' questions, Mr. Clement said yesterday that from the time they learned of the shutdown, he and Mr. Lunn were focused "like a laser beam" on getting the nuclear isotopes back into the medical system. The isotopes from Chalk River are used in about 25 million medical procedures each year.

With that now accomplished -- MDS Nordion began shipping medical isotopes yesterday -- Mr. Clement said the government can now turn its attention to a review of the factors that led to the unexpected shutdown.

"I can tell you that Gary Lunn has acted to ensure that the lines of communication are better and quicker and tighter, as they should be," Mr. Clement said.

"It is absolutely appropriate to have a top to bottom review of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited. ... If I know the prime minister, and I do, we will get to the bottom of this."

Mr. Clement has come under fire this week from Mr. Burns for suggesting that his recent departure was connected to troubles at the nuclear facility.

Mr. Burns contends his resignation was submitted before the isotope crisis began.

He has accused the Harper government of engaging in "a clumsy piece of political opportunism" by tying his resignation to the isotope crisis.

Mr. Clement said yesterday that he doesn't want to get into a back-and-forth debate with Mr. Burns about his resignation.

Meanwhile, in a news release yesterday, Liberal MP Omar Alghabra demanded that Mr. Lunn explain why he didn't act when first informed of serious problems at the Chalk River facility on Nov. 22.

"These comments confirm that this government was aware of the impending health crisis caused by the extended shutdown of this medical isotope-producing facility and sat on its hands and did nothing," he said.

David Torgerson, president of AECL's research and technology division, stressed yesterday that the facility is completely safe and operational.

One of the two emergency motor starters for cooling water pumps that regulators had demanded is now installed and operational. The second will be installed in coming weeks.

"Safety is the word," said Mr. Torgerson. "We have operated safely in the past, we are operating safely now, and we will operate safely into the future -- no compromise."

Mr. Clement was in Chalk River yesterday as part of a media tour of the 50-year-old nuclear facility. Visitors to the site, which is guarded by heavily armed security, must pass through a variety of checkpoints to gain access to the reactor.

Security at the facility has been significantly increased since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Inside the facility, everyone, including Mr. Clement, donned white plastic lab coats and blue shoe coverings. All visitors were scanned for explosive chemicals, then scanned again for traces of radioactive material on their way out.

In a published interview, Mr. Burns has said the shutdown of the Chalk River facility was the predictable result of a dysfunctional relationship between AECL and the country's nuclear regulator.

The Canadian Nuclear Regulatory Commission ordered AECL to extend a routine maintenance shutdown of the Chalk River facility in order to install additional safety equipment.

The reactor was taken out of service on Nov. 18 for six days of scheduled maintenance. But the safety regulator's demands extended the shutdown, which was only ended by emergency legislation.

Mr. Burns has said that he and Mr. Lunn were informed as early Nov. 22 that the reactor would not resume service and received regular updates on its status in the days that followed.

During a debate Dec. 11 regarding the emergency legislation to restart the Chalk River reactor, Mr. Lunn told the House of Commons: "I was first made aware (of the shutdown) I believe late in the day on Dec. 3 and started working on it on Dec. 4." Mr. Clement has claimed that he was not informed about the shutdown until Dec. 5.

While the political pot boiled yesterday, the company that produces the medical isotopes was reporting a return to production.

MDS Nordion spokeswoman Shelley Maclean said the company shipped isotopes to customers yesterday and was "able to meet 100 per cent of the orders."

When injected into the body, the isotopes give off radiation that can be seen by a camera to diagnose cancer, heart disease and other conditions.

Ms. Maclean said, however, that it was uncertain how the backlog in orders for the isotopes would be settled.

"Our customers are still trying to sort through how they are going to manage that, so we are just taking our lead from them, based on what they are going to need."