Physics in Canada / La Physique au Canada - 2010 (66.1)

Medical Isotopes and the Future of Neutron Scattering in Canada

Author(s)
Dominic Ryan
Institution
McGill University

Last May, a thunderstorm caused a power trip at Chalk River Laboratories in Ontario and during the re-start inspection, a heavy water leak was discovered in the reactor vessel. The National Research Universal (NRU) reactor has been down ever since. Canadian neutron scatterers have been without a home base for ten months and tens of thousands of patients around the world have gone without critical diagnostic procedures and essential treatments. Finally the issue of a replacement for our 52 year old research reactor is in the news and at the centre of government.