Nordion seeks new Russian isotope supplier

Nordion seeks new Russian isotope supplier: http://www.obj.ca/Technology/2012-10-29/article-3109534/Nordion-seeks-new-Russian-isotope-supplier/1 "Medical isotope provider Nordion Inc. (TSX: NDN) is planning to enter an agreement with a Russian research institute that will provide the Ottawa-based company with a supply of isotopes, after ending an agreement with another Russian supplier on Friday.
The agreement with the Research Institute of Atomic Reactors means that Molybdenum-99, commonly referred to as Mo-99, would be produced by RIAR’s reactors in Dimtrovgrad, Russia.
Nordion says that it expects the agreement could “potentially meet a portion of Nordion’s long-term supply requirements,” according to a company release published Monday.".... "Currently, Nordion obtains most of its medical isotopes through Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., which owns and manages the National Research Universal reactor that has been in service since 1957. The NRU, located in Chalk River, has seen multiple scheduled shutdowns for maintenance as it ages.
To address long-term supply security, Nordion and AECL entered a contractual agreement in 1996 that committed AECL to construct and deliver two new nuclear reactors and a processing facility known as the Maple project, to replace the aging NRU reactor.
The project was cancelled in 2008, however, and Nordion began a three-year battle with AECL and the federal government, arguing that a flaw in the design was “manageable.” An arbitrator ruled against Nordion on Sept. 10, which led Nordion to suspend its quarterly dividend payments and halt a share buy-back program, resulting in a 36 per cent plunge in Nordion stocks.
Those stocks rose by three per cent soon after when the company announced that its primary customer, Lantheus Medical Imaging Inc., had extended its deal with Nordion until 2015."