Global Security Newswire

Canada plans to provide nearly $25 million to assist three research entities in manufacturing nonatomic technologies that can produce key medical isotopes without using weapon-grade uranium, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The systems would by 2016 supplant the nation's sole existing facility for producing isotopes, the Chalk River plant in Ontario. The site in recent years has experienced two temporary shutdowns and other troubles. There are also concerns about keeping nuclear weapon-usable materials in a civilian facility.

"Our challenge now is to prove that cyclotron and linear accelerator production can be commercially viable," said National Resources Minister Joe Oliver. "We envision a future where isotope production will no longer require highly enriched uranium -- a weapons-grade material."