In a breakthrough, Canadian researchers develop a new way to produce medical isotopes

[polly7]

In a breakthrough, Canadian researchers develop a new way to produce medical isotopes

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/in-a-breakthrough-canadian-researchers-develop-a-new-way-to-produce-medical-isotopes/article2343967/

The solution to the global shortage in the supply of crucial medical isotopes – a scarcity pegged to problems at Ontario’s aging Chalk River nuclear reactor – may be lying in the basements of Canadian hospitals.

The 54-year-old facility, set to close in 2016, provides half the world’s supply of medical isotopes, including meeting most of North America’s demand.

But in what is being described as a medical breakthrough, a research team has come up with a way to adapt existing cyclotrons – particle accelerators – in Canadian hospitals and institutions so they can be used to produce technetium-99m. Until now, the key diagnostic isotope has been available only from nuclear reactors.

[bayareamike]

1. Those big bad socialist Canadians are up to their old Bolshevik ways again

[saras]

2. Now if they'd just learn to make non-radioactive isotopes, we could have those 3D printers after all

[eppur_se_muova]

3. ???? We already have 3D printers, and they don't require any particular isotopes.

What possible advantage would there be in converting one stable isotope to another ?