A reactor at the Chalk River site in Canada returned to service Friday, ending a supply interruption of the medical isotope molybdenum-99.
The Ontario lab's 135 MWt National Research Universal (NRU) reactor produces a number of isotopes used in medical testing and treatment. On Tuesday, AECL reported that its fuel rod flask used during fueling and defueling procedures required repairs, shutting down the NRU. As a result, the lab was unable to meet its deliveries of molybdenum-99 last week.
In a statement, AECL said that it completed the repairs Friday night and began processing orders for its customer Nordion over the weekend. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. noted that the outage came as two of the world's three major suppliers medical isotopes were also offline.