Canada May Face Pressure Over Bomb-Grade Uranium for Medical Use
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A U.S. agreement to supply European countries with material used to create cancer-treating isotopes may raise pressure on Canada to phase out the use of bomb-grade uranium for medical purposes.
Belgium, France and the Netherlands promised to stop making medical isotopes from reactors that irradiate bomb-grade uranium by 2015 in exchange for a U.S. pledge to supply nuclear material until then, the countries announced late yesterday at a nuclear-security summit in Seoul. The reactors produce Molybdenum-99, or Moly-99, that hospitals use to diagnose and treat cancer and heart disease.