Isotope Crisis: Right Hand Hanging Left Hand Out to Dry

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, seems like these here Conservative ministers is their own worst enemies. Instead of throwin' a lifeline to their flounderin' colleagues, they sit on their hands and watch 'em splash an' drown. Instead of pullin' out the rabbit they got in their hat, they play dumb... or, are they actually just as uninformed as they let on?

While Ministers Raitt and Aglukkaq continue to demonstrate their incompetence, real progress is being made in the field of isotope production. While Prime Minister Harper tells us Canada is throwing in the towel on future isotope manufacture and supply, Canadian research and technology is moving forward achieving just what Harper says is not feasible.

One wonders why Raitt, Aglukkaq and Harper seem unable to even attempt to fend off opposition questions with real answers that would put their government in a much better light. Although it seems improbable, it appears that none of the politicians are up to speed on what is happening under their very noses.

Back in November 2008, TRIUMF : Canada's National Laboratory for Particle and Nuclear Physics, the University of British Columbia and Advanced Applied Physics Solutions, Inc. (AAPS) released a report “proposing a uniquely Canadian method for producing select medical isotopes which avoids using weapons-grade uranium and nuclear reactors.”

More recently, MDS Nordion, the same company that purchases and distributes all of the Chalk River isotopes, entered into a commercial agreement with TRIUMF “to study the feasibility of producing a viable and reliable supply of photo-fission-produced molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) used globally for diagnostic medical imaging.”

While Harper and his crew of liquidators are intent on selling the farm at bargain basement prices and abandoning Canada’s formerly respected role in the field of nuclear medicine, Canadian researchers and business interests are working outside the AECL framework to deliver much-needed isotopes using a safer, cheaper technology. While Harper and his nuclear grease monkeys are applying duct tape and Bondo to Chalk River’s 52 year old clunker, forward thinking scientists are developing an alternative source of Molybdenum-99.

While Harper and his inexperienced cabinet ministers sputter about securing isotopes from international sources, UBC, TRIUMF and MDS Nordion are forging ahead on a highly promising plan that, incredibly, was the subject of an announcement by Ministers Raitt and Aglukkaq less than two weeks ago.

Federal Gov't Takes Forward Steps on Medical Isotopes

29 May 2009

Yesterday, Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Lisa Raitt and Minister of Health Leona Aglukkaq announced the Government's plan to establish an Expert Review Panel for Long-Term Isotope Supply Solutions. TRIUMF, Canada's national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, supports these steps and looks forward to contributing to the process.

Why, one wonders, did neither Raitt nor Aglukkaq point to this development when they faced tough questioning in the House? Is it possible that the announcement, though seemingly made jointly by their own offices, was unknown to the ministers?

Now, let’s move along to part two of the ministers not knowing what’s happening under their noses. This time, we have former Health Minister and current Industry Minister Tony Clement remaining silent in the House while his hapless colleagues Raitt and Aglukkaq squirm under questioning about what they are doing to ease the shortage of isotopes.

Odd, since it was just about a week earlier, on June 1, that Clement announced $22 million in new funding to upgrade McMaster University’s research reactor, part of which was designated “to expand Canada's isotope research and production capacity.” Although $22 million is a piddly amount by nuclear standards, Clement could have come to the aid of his fellow cabinet members with at least one concrete example of what Canada is doing to increase domestic isotope production. Additionally, unlike Chalk River’s NRU, the Mac reactor is currently operational and presumably could be producing some of the needed isotopes while the repairs to the NRU are being carried out.

When PM Harper told us yesterday that Canada is getting out of the isotope business, did he not know that his industry minister, just 10 short days ago, had doled out $22 million to expand Canada's isotope production capacity.

Don't these ministers talk to one another? Don't they even read their own press releases?

JimBobby

Secret, Schmecret -- AECL's Incompetence Further Revealed

Whooee! Well, friends an' foes, everybody's talkin' 'bout dumbass Lisa Raitt leaving secret papers behind at CTV. Par for the CPC course. Their talent pool's pretty shallow, after all. While the fact that another of Harper's Ministers can't keep tabs on secret stuff is damning, what is more interesting is the stuff itself.

Underlying all of this security breach stuff is the fact that AECL is as incompetent as the minister in charge. The AECL refurbishment up at Bruce is now known to be more than 400 days behind schedule and hundreds of millions of dollars over budget. Par for the nuclear course, I realize, but how can Ontario even consider AECL's unproven ACR-1000 design for its ridiculous $26.6 billion commitment to unneeded new nuclear builds?

That $26 Bn will undoubtedly turn into 10's of billions more and we all know who pays for these cost overruns.

Of course, Ontario could choose France's Areva to build the new reactors. They're 42 months behind schedule on their only contract to build the same new generation EPR reactor that is being considered for Ontario. Areva's Finnish project is running 60% over budget. On top of that, Finland was depending on Areva to be on time so that Finland would not face multi-million dollar penalties under Kyoto. In addition to the cost and time overruns, the Areva build also has safety shortcomings.

Governments need to face up to the fact that nuclear is the most expensive and least reliable option for meeting energy needs. We dole out lavish corporate welfare to these nuclear giants and, in turn, they use that money to lobby governments and mount public relations campaigns aimed at convincing decision makers and the public that they are selling a viable product.

The secrecy surrounding nuclear costs is only the tip of the iceberg. What are we not being told about lapses in safety and nuclear security? We are creating stockpiles of highly radioactive spent nuclear fuel without any permanent storage solution. These stockpiles are guarded by paramilitary swat teams who must constantly upgrade their capabilities to stay ahead of terrorists and rogue states. We are saddling countless future generations with these security costs all so we can continue to waste energy like there's no tomorrow.

As far as the isotope crisis goes, watch for Harpoleon to pull a rabbit from the hat. The research reactor at McMaster Universty is to be upgraded with a paltry $22 million and part of that sum is intended isotope production.

In a statement, McMaster University said, "As Canada's only nuclear reactor outside of Chalk River capable of producing medical isotopes, the funding will be used to upgrade McMaster's physical infrastructure to expand Canada's isotope research and production capacity, to enhance research activities and train personnel for the nuclear industry and health care sectors."
(Source)

There's just one little problem. The Mac reactor, like the Chalk River dinosaur, is 50 years old. Throwing good money after bad seems to be the singled-minded goal of both the federal Conservatives and the Ontario Liberals.

What is somewhat surprising, though, is that when Minister Raitt was being grilled in QP the other day, she seemed to know nothing about the plans to upgrade the Mac reactor. More incompetence? Tony Clement failing to step up and defend his collegue? One hand unaware of what the other hand is doling out?

JB

Linda Keen Gets Major International Award, Nobody Notices

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, we all remember Linda Keen. She was the scapegoat for AECL-MDS Nordion-MNR-GoC negligence and foul-ups. She was ignominiously fired as president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission by Gary Lunn after her inconvenient whistleblowing precipitated last December's so-called isotope crisis. Keen remains a CNSC member and employee.

Well, our gal Linda has been presented with a top award from a top international professional association. Here's the announcement from the CNSC website.

Linda J. Keen Receives 2008 Women in Nuclear (WiN) Global Award

On May 28th, 2008, Linda J. Keen, was presented with the 2008 Women in Nuclear (WiN) Global Award in Marseilles, France. She received special recognition for excellence in communications, education, leadership and mentoring in the nuclear sector. Ms. Keen is currently a permanent full-time Member of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) and was formerly President and Chief Executive Officer. The CNSC is proud to acknowledge Ms. Keen as the first Canadian to receive this award.

Wowee! Sounds impressive. Run the maple leaf up the flagpole, stand and sing O Canada. Our home and native land oughta be proud. But, gee, this was almost a month ago and even avid nuke news watchers like ol' JB didn't see anything about it in the MSM or the blogs.

I only learned of this award a couple days ago through a nuclear issues email list subscription. If you go to the CNSC's home page, there's nothing there to indicate that one of their employees and their immediate past-president has been honoured with a prestigious international award. Digging a little deeper, I tried to find the news item on the CNSC's News page. Nothing there, either, except a link to More News Releases. I was sure I'd dug deep enough into the CNSC site that finally, I'd find the News story that I quoted above. Hmmm... I found a page purporting to show all 2008 news releases. But, dang it, the story about Keen's dismissal was there but not a peep about Keen receiving this big award.

Be proud, Canajuns. Be proud of Linda Keen.

Just in case the CNSC decides to make the announcement completely unavailable, I've grabbed a screenshot.
JimBobby

1000's of Lives at Risk? Tell me another one, Gary.

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, another day, another confirmation of lies and exaggerations by the HarpoonTossers. Along with the gal I adore, Earth Mother Lizzie May, a few of us bloggers been sayin' the so-called isotope crisis weren't really a crisis, at all. Even if it were a crisis, it was entirely manufactured and avoidable.

Here's another piece of evidence to add to the stinkin' heap.

Doubt cast on assertion that thousands of lives at risk in Chalk River fiasco

16 hours ago

OTTAWA - Doubt was cast Tuesday on the Harper government's assertion that thousands of lives could have been lost if it hadn't forced resumption of isotope production at the Chalk River nuclear reactor.

Dr. Karen Gulenchyn, a nuclear medicine expert who helped advise federal Health Minister Tony Clement during the isotope shortage last December, said it's "very difficult" to speculate on what might have happened to patients whose diagnostic tests were delayed due to the shortage.

"It's a very difficult question to answer," she told the Commons natural resources committee.

Pushed by committee members to elaborate, Gulenchyn finally added: "Could people have died? Yeah, they could have under certain circumstances."

Her cautious appraisal of the situation was in contrast to the bold assertions by Clement and Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn. They have raised the spectre of massive loss of life to justify the government's decision last December to force the reopening of the reactor over the objections of Canada's nuclear safety regulator.

Clement has spoken of the "huge human health impacts" of allowing the reactor, which produces about half the world's supply of medical isotopes, to remain shut down.

And Lunn has justified the subsequent firing of Linda Keen from her post as president of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission by arguing that she was "willing to put the lives of thousands of Canadians in jeopardy."

Isotopes are used primarily in diagnostic tests for cancer and heart disease.

If Gulenchyn was cautious, Dr. Thomas Perry from the University of British Columbia, was downright skeptical of the government's claims of a health care emergency.

Although not a nuclear medicine expert himself, Perry said he's spoken to many colleagues in his province who've told him the isotope crisis was "much ado about nothing." The former NDP provincial politician said he couldn't think of one diagnostic test that couldn't have been conducted in an alternate way without isotopes.

Gulenchyn said the group of experts who advised Clement during the crisis found that the impact of the Chalk River closure varied greatly across the country. British Columbia was the least affected while eastern Canada and small and remote communities, with the least access to alternative diagnostic equipment, were hardest hit.

Among patients awaiting diagnostic tests, she said the group found delay could result in serious harm for about 10 per cent and in delayed treatment and unnecessary pain for another 50 per cent. About 40 per cent of cases could be safely deferred.

Had the reactor not come back on line on Dec. 16, Gulenchyn said "we believe unmanageable shortages would have occurred within a week." She conceded that European reactors could likely have taken up the slack, had they been given enough advance notice to ramp up their operations, but that was not the case in December.
(Source - there's more and it's worth readin')

So, an adviser to Clement who is a nuclear medicine expert says, "European reactors could likely have taken up the slack, had they been given enough advance notice to ramp up their operations, but that was not the case in December." It was not the case in November, either. MDS Nordion was well aware that the supplies from Chalk River would be disrupted. They put out press releases in November to that effect.

MDS Nordion also claimed that hey were working with their European competitors to obtain alternate supplies. So far, we've seen or heard zero evidence to back up that assertion.

I gotta go an' take ol' Spot fer his mornin' exercise now. I'll post more on this later.

JB

Isotope "Crisis" Profit Motivated: Canadian Medical Association Journal

Whooee! Well friends an' foes, the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is blowing the lid off the December isotope "crisis." A new article in the association's Journal (CMAJ) describes how MDS Nordion and AECL duped Canadians and Parliament. They couldn't have done it alone, though. MDS had help. Big help. Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Quite a few bloggers have picked up on this story, including POGGE, The Galloping Beaver (TGB), Impolitical, Accidental Deliberations (Jurist) and Canadian Cynic. Like last week's revelation that the "crisis" was no crisis, at all, the CMAJ article is echoing and lending authority and credibility to what some Canadian bloggers have been saying for weeks.

There was no need for an isotope shortage. There was no need to restart NRU. There was no need for Harper to mislead Parliament and all Canadians about the cause of the shortage. There was no need for Harper to fire the nuclear regulator.

By way of patting myself on the back and telling my thousands an' thousands of readers how prescient ol' JimBobby was, I'm gonna quote myself. Here's what I said back on December 18th:

MDS is the profitable private company that distributes AECL's isotopes. On Nov 30, MDS issued a press release advising investors that the company was facing a supply problem and shortages may develop. Such reporting is required for publicly traded companies when a known issue may affect stock price.
...

Lives were put at risk. A full-blown crisis was manufactured and Harper, et al, saw no other option than to overrule CNSC and restart NRU. There were other options but they were apparently unknown to parliament.

If MDS had outsourced, no crisis would have developed. If MDS had outsourced, MDS's stock price would be negatively affected. Outsourcing from suppliers who are working overtime to meet demand is expensive. MDS's customers are mainly in North America. Flying isotopes from Holland or South Africa is expensive. Transportation costs would have would cut further into MDS's profits.

MDS played its cards skillfully. They created a shortage. They failed to notify all the affected parties. They failed to procure available alternative isotopes. They put thousands of lives at risk. They got Parliament to restore their source of profitable isotopes.
(Source: JimBobby, Dec. 18, 2007)

Here's some of what the CMAJ article says:

Although the health care implications of the Chalk River kerfuffle are serious, the many headlines declaring a world-wide isotope shortage may have been premature, if not errant. Countries like Canada, the United States and Japan were facing shortages that would have resulted in thousands of cancelled diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, but it was business as usual for European nuclear medicine practitioners.

Europe’s 2 large-scale isotope suppliers — the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group in the Netherlands and the Institut National des Radioéléments in Belgium — coordinate their production schedules to ensure 1 reactor is always running. They also have open communication with Nuclear Technology Products in South Africa. Some in the international nuclear medicine community claim that foreign producers could have buoyed the North American supply chain, had Canada been a better global partner.

“The 1 problem we have is that we never get information from the Canadians,” says Kevin Charlton, commercial manager for business development and sales with the Nuclear Research and Consultancy Group.

Canadian Society of Nuclear Medicine President Dr. Jean-Luc Urbain claims foreign isotope producers were not capable of picking up the slack. But others, like University of Texas public affairs professor Alan J. Kuperman, argue MDS Nordion has no interest in international contingency planning.

“They see themselves as the big dog. They are not going to share information with the small ones nipping at their heels.” “There is all sorts of surplus capacity,” says Kuperman. “Nordion and AECL [Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.] obviously knew there was an option of going to other suppliers … Instead, they went to the public and the Canadian government. That was misleading and, one could argue, socially irresponsible.”
(Source: CMAJ [pdf], emphasis mine, JB)

Socially irresponsible. They could have coordinated efforts with alternative suppliers. They could have prevented the shortage from developing and they did not.

AECL and MDS Nordion, with the help of Prime Minister Harper, Natural Resources Minister Gary Lunn and Health Minister Tony Clement, pulled the wool over the eyes of the public and the eyes of 100% of Canadian MP's.

Why was the shortage manufactured? Profit, pure and simple.

As I said seven weeks ago, MDS's bottom line was at risk if they had to outsource isotope production. They played a dangerous game that put 1000's of medical tests on hold and could have cost lives.

MDS's point man was Stephen Harper. Harper's bluster, exaggerations, crisis mentality and partisan bullying was essential to the scam. Without Harper's representation in the House, MDS would have had to own up to its part in creating a life-threatening shortage for the sake of profit.

Harper did his job. The job he did was not on behalf of Canadians or even on behalf of all cancer patients expecting diagnostic tests. The job that Harper did was to ensure that MDS's cheap supply of medical isotopes was restored. Harper's job was to ensure MDS's profits did not suffer. The suffering of cancer patients? That takes a backseat to the profit-driven medical industry.

Underlying all this, is the Harper government's unabashed desire to sell off AECL. Other influential factors include the fact that the Maple 1 & Maple 2 reactors are "duds." MDS and AECL have managed to jointly get the Maples 8 years behind schedule and over $400 million over budget. That's not exactly shocking in the nuclear industry where massive cost overruns and multi-year delays are pretty much the norm. What is shocking, however, is the idea that these replacements may never go into service.

In 2007, officials at the federal agency predicted it would cost the public purse another $130 million to get the new reactors in service.

But senior government sources say the figure is closer to another $400 million, bringing the total cost to around $900 million -- an overrun of about 650% from the original contract price.

"There is no way those (reactors) make any economic sense for commercial isotope production," says one federal official close to the situation.

"Taxpayers would be subsidizing them forever."

Sources also warn that even investing $400 million more would not guarantee the reactors would actually work.

The biggest technical problem, in simple terms, causes the nuclear reaction to speed up as the reactor speeds up, creating a cycle of ever increasing power that may not have a happy ending.

Atomic Energy officials argue that the problem is only slight, and can be rectified.

But one federal official points out the world has already seen the phenomenon in action once, albeit on a far larger scale than anything that could occur at Chalk River.

"It was called Chernobyl."
(Source: Greg Weston, Toronto Sun, Feb 1, 2008)

Weston devotes most of his article to blaming 13 years of Liberal mismanagement for AECL's problems. I won't argue with that. Weston focuses on the problems with the Maples fails to mention anything about the manufactured and avoidable nature of the December shortage. He does reveal some interesting facts concerning MDS's profitability.

MDS would own the reactors, and Atomic Energy would get a share of the proceeds from the sale of medical isotopes across Canada and around the world.

But by 2005, costs had spiralled out of control, and still the Maple reactors were plagued with technical and other problems.

In 2006, after a lengthy legal fight with Atomic Energy, MDS Nordion did something that should have sounded alarm bells about the reactors.

The company simply wrote off the staggering $345 million it had invested in the Maple reactors, and handed Atomic Energy the keys -- and all future financial responsibility for the project.

In return, MDS got a guaranteed 40-year supply of isotopes.

MDS Nordion's share price went up on the announcement.
(Source: Greg Weston, Toronto Sun, Feb 1, 2008)

And as we're all finally learning, everything about the AECL/MDS relationship is about profit: share prices. Note that after a legal battle, AECL guaranteed a 40 year supply of isotopes. Just how are we (yes, we taxpayers own AECL) supposed to honour that legally binding agreement? Will we be running NRU when it's 90 years old?

Here's the question Canadians need to ask:

Were Harper, Lunn and Clement dupes? Or were they duplicitous?

I'm going for the latter.

Harper, Lunn, Clement and AECL/MDS conspired to trick the public and Parliament. For profit. Like the guy said in the CMAJ article, the engineered crisis was misleading and socially irresponsible. I'd call that the antithesis of public service. Harper et al scammed Parliament and they scammed all Canadians. They must be called to account.

Change the climate in Parliament.

JimBobby

UPDATE: MDS Nordion is paying attention to what the blogs are saying.