Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) has requested and received a postponement of its hearing before the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) to consider the restart of the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario.
The CNSC has rescheduled the meeting for July 5. AECL said the delay allows for more time to conduct an extended analysis of the presence of trace amounts of airborne tritium detected last week by NRU's monitoring system. It also allows for further inspections and final checks of vessel repairs following a minor earthquake in Canada on June 23.
The Chalk River reactor has been offline since May 2009, when a major water leak was found. Repairs began last December and were completed earlier this month.
The NRU facility produces approximately 50% of the molybdenum-99 radioisotope supply for North America.
Related Reading
AECL proceeds with restart plans, June 28, 2010
AECL completes Chalk River repairs, June 17, 2010
AECL requests NRU restart hearing, June 14, 2010
AECL's NRU repairs at 98%, June 11, 2010
SNM: 1 year later, Mo-99 shortage 'a lot worse,' June 8, 2010
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