Dutch fret over Canadian reactor outage

OTTAWA, June 9 (UPI) -- Nuclear officials in the Netherlands say they're concerned their Canadian partner in producing medical isotopes will be offline for as long as three months.

Canada's Chalk River facility in Ontario, was shut down in May after a small leak of radioactive water caused by a power failure, which has put pressure on a similar facility in northwestern Netherlands at Petten, Sun Media reported.

The two reactors produce more than two-thirds of the world's isotopes used in cancer detection and treatment, as well as heart and bone disease.

In a telephone interview with Sun Media, HFR-Petten's commercial manager of medical isotope supply, Kevin Charlton said there was concern about Chalk River's return to service as his facility was coming due for a month-long shutdown in July for maintenance.

"It would be pretty difficult to see how the medical community could manage to cope if we have to go out for a long period before the (Canadian) reactor gets back," he said.

Charlton said Petten has been able to step up production by about 50 percent by eliminating non-isotope activities such as research and industrial production, the report said.