When nuclear nonproliferation is the problem

The controversy about the shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear plant (pictured above), and its repercussions on physicians' access to radioisotopes produced there for their diagnostic imaging machines, is gaining steam.

Calling the halt in production of radioisotopes as a result of the Chalk River nuclear plant leak and shutdown "what may well be the country's worst medical crisis in decades," London Free Press columnist Greg Weston blasted the current government and governments past for failing to protect Canadian patients from the risk a shutdown represents.

Dr Jean-Luc Urbain, the president of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine, told Mr Weston, "This is an absolute catastrophe, the worst possible scenario you could imagine." By next week, Dr Urbain said, up to 3,000 Canadian patients per day may have to have their diagnostic imaging canceled for lack of isotopes. "If you cannot make a diagnosis, you cannot prescribe treatments," he said. "The situation is really, really dire."

Already, 70 bone scans were canceled in Saskatoon as the health region rations its resources in anticipation of the shortage. [Saskatoon StarPhoenix]

"We'll be okay for this week and next week," Dawn-Marie King, the director of clinical operations for medical imaging at the University Health Network, Mount Sinai and Women's College hospitals, said. "If it does go into a month, weeks three and four and beyond will be an issue." [Toronto Sun]

The London Free Press's Mr Weston asked Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq's office what the plan is. He got back a message from Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt that said, in part, that she had "led a discussion with... government and industry representatives in isotope-producing countries to address this issue and to encourage immediate collaboration." Well, Mr Weston wasn't about to take her word for it. "We contacted many of those key international players," he wrote, "and let's just say that if Raitt's gabfest had any effect at all, we couldn't find anyone who noticed." [London Free Press]

A Toronto Star editorial enumerated the fruits of the government's international negotiations "to co-ordinate reactor maintenance schedules in order to ensure that facilities are not taken out of service simultaneously." The current status of the five reactors worldwide that produce the needed radioisotopes? Four are shut down for repairs, reportedly. "So much for collaboration," the Star sighed. [Toronto Star]

And the news keeps getting worse. A spokesman for Atomic Energy Limited of Canada, which runs the plant, said the repairs will take over one month, but the National Post heard from an engineer who works at Chalk River that even eight months would be surprisingly fast for repairs to be completed. Another engineer, who used to work at Chalk River and is now employed by the federal government, told the Post, "Sounds to me as if good ol' NRU is gone for good." Several repair scenarios could place the shutdown at as long as two to six years, reporter David Akin wrote. [National Post]

In the meantime, a South African company called NTP Radioisotopes has come forward to offer to help provide supplies for the US and Canada. [Globe and Mail] Some have suggested paying to use McMaster's nuclear reactor to fill in for Chalk River, but nothing appears to have come of that idea yet. [Hamilton Spectator]

But the shortage is already becoming a hot political issue, with Liberal health critic Dr Carolyn Bennett excoriating the government for its failure to prepare for this eventuality. "This government has no plan to deal with another isotope crisis... Is there a plan to deal with a month-long shutdown at Chalk River? Can this government offer any hope to Canadians that they have a strategy to ensure Canada continues to be a world-leader in nuclear medicine? Based on the government’s handling of this file, the answer to each of these questions is a resounding 'no'." [Liberal Party news release]

Of course, the overdependence on Chalk River was a problem when Dr Bennett and the Liberals were in power, too. Longstanding plans to build two new reactors, called MAPLE, never got off the ground and then were cancelled by the government last year when problems with the design turned out to be serious. However, MDS Nordion, the company that distributes the radioisotopes produced at Chalk River, issued a statement the other day that implied they were unhappy with the government's "unilateral" decision to scrap MAPLE and that they believe "the completion of the MAPLE project is the best alternative to provide long-term global isotope supply." [MDS Nordion news release]

What next? At this point, with much of the political side of the debate apparently focused on finger-pointing, it's anybody's guess. But it seems increasingly certain that many, many Canadian patients' tests will be postponed as a result of the Chalk River shutdown.

Photo: National Research Council Canada

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