Medical Isotope Shortage 2009 - 2010 & Future Options Nru, Slowpoke & Maple

Abstract

The 15 month shutdown of NRU and the unexpected termination of the AECL/Nordion MAPLE project caused a world-wide shortage of medical isotopes. After the recent repair of NRU, AECL is confident that it could continue operating safely and reliably as a multi-purpose reactor until 2021 or longer. There is convincing evidence that the restoration of the MAPLE reactors is technically feasible, but it is highly improbable that a 10 MW MAPLE production reactor can ever be cost-effective. However, conversion of the present 10 MW reactors to 3 MW, without major changes to the structural hardware, warrants serious consideration. Finally, even the 20 kW SLOWPOKE reactor could produce useful quantities of Mo-99. If the present fuel rods were replaced with a small tank containing a solution of low-enriched uranyl sulphate in water, three of these liquid core reactors could supply all of Canada.