SASKATCHEWAN SUBMITS PROPOSAL FOR PRODUCTION OF MEDICAL ISOTOPES

Released on August 4, 2009

Energy and Resources Minister Bill Boyd today released the Province of Saskatchewan's submission to the Government of Canada's Expert Review Panel on Medical Isotope Production.

"Sixty years ago this month, Dr. Harold Jones of the University of Saskatchewan obtained the province's first cobalt-60 source-ironically from the Chalk River Experimental Nuclear Reactor Facility in Ontario," Boyd said.

"And on November 8, 1951 the world's first cobalt-60 treatment was given to a 40-year-old woman diagnosed with advanced cervical cancer. It saved her life, and she lived to be 90," he said.

"Saskatchewan has a proud tradition of pioneering, life-saving research in the field of nuclear medicine. This proposal potentially opens a brand new chapter in this important story."

In the submission, the Government of Saskatchewan, in partnership with the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), proposes to develop the Canadian Neutron Source (CNS), a new world-class research facility at the U of S including a 20-megawatt, low-enriched uranium (LEU) research reactor facility designed to:

• supply medical isotopes to meet Canada's health care needs and for export; and
•  provide neutron beams for Canadian neutron science research and industrial applications.

The document was developed by a working group made up of representatives from the University of Saskatchewan (U of S), the Saskatchewan Cancer Agency, the College of Medicine, Crown Investments Corporation, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Advanced Education, Labour and Employment.

Dr. Richard Florizone, a nuclear physicist and Vice-President of Finance at the U of S, served as co-chair of the working group.

"The U of S is already home to the Canadian Light Source (CLS) synchrotron - the largest Canadian science project in a generation," Dr. Florizone said.

"The establishment of the Canadian Neutron Source near the CLS could ensure a reliable long-term source of life-saving medical isotopes for Canadians. It could also create the foundation for the U of S as an international leader in all aspects of nuclear studies, including nuclear science, nuclear medicine and materials science, but also the environmental, social and public policy issues of sustainable nuclear development."

Cost of the CNS research reactor is estimated at between $500 and $750 million. It would cost between $45 million and $70 million annually to operate the reactor, with some of those costs offset by money gained from isotope sales and industrial science.

The proposal calls for costs to be broken down in the following manner:

                   Development Cost       Construction Cost                 Annual Operating Cost

Canada               50%                              75%                                                   60%
Saskatchewan   50%                              25%                                                   25%
Industry (through isotope sales and industrial science)                            15%

The Province and the University of Saskatchewan submitted the Expression of Interest to the Expert Review Panel on July 31 to meet the federal deadline. The Panel is expected to indicate by November 30 which submissions will be selected to proceed to the full proposal stage.

However, Boyd noted that no decisions will be made with regard to further development of Saskatchewan's uranium resources until later this year.

"As Premier Wall has clearly indicated on several occasions, no final decision on this matter will be made until we have had an opportunity to review the report from this spring's public consultations on uranium development chaired by Dan Perrins," Boyd said.

Perrins' report will be submitted to the provincial government by the end of August.

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For more information, contact:

Leanne Persicke
Executive Council
Regina
Phone: 306-787-1321
Email: leanne.persicke@gov.sk.ca

Kathryn Warden
U of S Office of the Vice-President Research
Saskatoon
Phone: 306-966-2506