Clement: Massive dysfunctionality led to isotope crisis.

Dysfunctionality is actually a euphemism for incompetence. No mention of MDS Nordion or its suit against AECL for deciding not to go ahead with the Maple reactors. No mention of the contract between Nordion and the AECL either. AECL's incompetence and shutting down of reactors will cost the taxpayer millions. Instead of cleaning house and hiring competent people the government will probably try to privatise AECL but with the mess AECL is in and its existing contractual obligations no private company will probably buy it even at fire sale prices. The government will probably invest more money to make it saleable and then when it looks profitable will sell it off at firesale prices so that the private sector not the taxpayer will profit from the further investment.


'Massive dysfunctionality' led to isotope crisis: Clement
Last Updated: Tuesday, July 29, 2008 8:47 AM ET CBC News
A "massive dysfunctionality" of communication between parties contributed to the shortage of medical isotopes in the wake of last year's shutdown of the Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. reactor in Chalk River, Ont., federal Health Minister Tony Clement said.
Clement said he’s not surprised by the findings of an independent consultant, who urged better communications between the government, the federal regulator and AECL, the Crown corporation in charge of the reactor that provides two-thirds of the world's radioisotopes.
"This crisis couldn’t reach this point unless there was a massive dysfunctionality going on somewhere along the line and clearly, what this report does is illustrate that all along the line there were missed opportunities and miscommunication," Clement told CBC News following the release of the report on Monday.
While it was shut down in November 2007 for required maintenance, the Chalk River reactor essentially stopped supplying the nuclear material essential for medical imaging and diagnostic scans for fractures, cancers and heart conditions. It was restarted on Dec. 16 after Parliament passed a bill ordering it to resume operations.
The report says that during the isotope shortage, there was no communication between AECL, which produces the raw materials of most tests performed in nuclear medicine imaging facilities, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, the federal safety commission that oversees it and the federal government.
"The most disconcerting issue of all for all concerned was the fact that the nuclear medicine community could not properly plan an appropriate response to the crisis," reads the report.
Nuclear community 'teetering on the brink of disaster'
Clement said the government has already taken action to address some of the recommendations, including developing a new communication protocol to ensure information about future shutdowns of the reactor would be shared faster between the respective parties involved.
A separate, but related report into the crisis by an ad hoc group of health experts that was also released on Monday found that Canada's nuclear medicine community was "teetering on the brink of disaster" in the wake of the reactor's shutdown.
The panel also suggests a reserve of raw materials should be created to deal with any future shortage and calls for more reactors to be opened to create isotopes.With files from the Canadian Press