Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) yesterday resumed operation of its National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, following unscheduled maintenance this week to repair the temperature controls for a moderator heat exchanger.
AECL stated that production of the medical isotope molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) was not adversely affected by the unplanned outage.
The nuclear reactor resumed production of Mo-99 last month after being offline since May 2009 when a major water leak was discovered. Repairs on NRU began in December 2009 and were completed in August.
The facility produces approximately half of the Mo-99 supply for North America.
Related Reading
AECL continues NRU maintenance, August 24, 2010
AECL produces first Mo-99 batch, August 20, 2010
AECL producing Mo-99 again, August 18, 2010
AECL's NRU could restart next week, August 13, 2010
AECL progresses toward restart, August 5, 2010
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