What happened at Chalk River?
The NRU (National Research Universal) reactor in Ontario, Canada, was shut down on May 14, 2009, after a power outage. During inspections the next day, a heavy-water leak was discovered (the third in two years). Sources expect the facility to remain offline for at least three months. The Chalk River facility had to be shut down for a month once before in late 2007 after officials discovered emergency backup power wasn’t connected to two pumps that prevent a meltdown. Roughly 30 percent to 40 percent of the world’s Mo-99 comes from Chalk River, and there are eight million procedures performed each year in the U.S. using Chalk River Mo-99. Further complicating the situation are plans to shut down the Petten reactor in The Netherlands for a month this summer. Together, the Chalk River and Petten plants supply 64% of the world’s Moly-99. What is the impact on patient health? Each year more than 20 million people in the US, 2 million in Canada, 10 million in Europe, and 14 million in the re
