Nordion to use Russian isotopes

December 23, 2010

Medical isotope containers at City Hospital in Saskatoon Monday, June 01, 2009, during a media briefing on shortage of medical isotopes. Photograph by: Greg Pender, Postmedia News

OTTAWA — The first shipment in a 10-year supply of Russian medical isotopes is on its way to Ottawa, where Nordion Inc. will use it to make up some of the shortfall from the aging NRU reactor at Chalk River, Ont.

The Russian company, called Isotope, is shipping molybdenum-99, which is processed into a form that can be injected into patients to help diagnose disease.

Nordion says it will have isotopes from this new supplier available for shipping early in 2011.

It says the new supply will “help alleviate the impact of the planned NRU reactor shutdown currently intended for mid-May 2011.”

It won’t say how much it is importing.

Radioactive isotopes can be attached to different organic molecules that travel through the body to send out a signal from targets such as the heart and brain.

Scanners can read this signal and make images showing the condition of internal organs.

Canada’s hospitals and research labs have been developing ways to use other radioactive materials such as rubidium and strontium since long shutdowns have cut off supplies from Chalk River.

But the technetium derived from Chalk River’s molybdenum remains the main workhorse among isotopes in Canada.

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