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CDN Forces Reactor Online Against Safety Regulations

Posted by samzenpus on from the the-great-white-glowing-north dept.

Socguy writes "The Canadian government has passed legislation that will reopen an Ontario nuclear reactor that produces most of the world's supply of critical medical isotopes, even though the site has been shut down for safety maintenance. Witnesses and experts were called in to the House to face questions about safety concerns and all parties eventually voiced support for the bill, which would effectively suspend CNSC's oversight role for 120 days. The Chalk River reactor ceased operating on Nov. 18. Pressure on the government to restart operations began to build after delays in the shutdown of the government-run site, which generates two-thirds of the world's radioisotopes, began to cause a critical shortage of radioisotopes."

3 of 338 comments (clear)

  1. Radio 1 report. by plsavaria · · Score: 5, Funny
    On the radio channel of Radio-Canada (french CBC), there was a report on the subject. Said the reactor woulf be closed for four months. Also said the half-life of the isotope, technétium-99, is 6 hours.

    Then someone asked the question : why don't they make a four-month-reserve?

    --
    The answer IS 42.
  2. Re:Got to love it... by Harmonious+Botch · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...especially when the reactor is not near me.

  3. Running short of isotopes, eh? by aeschenkarnos · · Score: 3, Funny

    Maybe the plan is to deal with the isotope shortage by putting isotopes EVERYWHERE ...