16 Oct (NucNet): After four months of planned maintenance work and safety refurbishment, the Osiris research reactor in France was restarted on schedule on 15 October at 02:00, France’s Atomic Energy Commission (Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique, CEA) said today.
The CEA said Osiris’ start-up was particularly important for nuclear medicine because worldwide production of the radioisotope technetium 99m (Tc-99m) has been hit by the shutdown of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s National Research Universal Reactor (NRU).
The NRU, which produces around half of the world’s medical isotopes, has been shut down since May 2009 and could be offline until the first quarter of 2010.
Osiris, at the Saclay research site near Paris, is used to carry out tests and irradiate fuel elements and structural materials of nuclear power plants under a high flux of neutrons.
But it also produces radioisotopes for medical use. It accounts for seven percent of global production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99m), which is needed for the production at hospitals and clinics of Tc-99m, the most widely used radioactive isotope in medical diagnostics.
Tc-99m is used in more than 35 million diagnostic medical examinations worldwide every year. In France, about 1.5 million examinations are carried out every year using Tc-99m, while in Europe as a whole the figure is about 10 million.
Only five research reactors produce the bulk of the world’s Mo-99 and all of them are between 39 and 52 years old.
Last month, the Brussels-based Association of Imaging Producers and Equipment Suppliers said it was investigating steps to “significantly improve” European production of Mo-99.
In a position paper also made public last month, France’s nuclear safety authority (Autorité de Sûreté Nucléaire, ASN) said keeping old isotope production reactors operating is not the solution to the shortage of radioisotopes. The authority proposed international discussions aimed at optimising the use of Tc-99m.
>>Related reports in the NucNet database (available to subscribers)
Canada’s NRU Likely To Remain Shut Down Until 2010 (World Nuclear Review No. 33, 14 August 2009)
French Regulator Calls For International Discussions On Isotopes Shortage (News No. 62, 18 September 2009)
European Production Of Medical Isotopes Still ‘Fragile’, Says New Paper (News No. 66, 28 September 2009)
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