Although still set to go online in March, the National Research Universal Reactor, one of the world's most important suppliers of medical isotopes, could be under repairs longer than originally thought, Atomic Energy Canada Limited announced.

The agency says repairs, while successful, have been going slower than expected.

"We're going from the easiest sites, into the more complicated area of repairs. There are always a number of factors that can never be predicted," Dale Coffin, a spokesman for the AECL, tells DOTmed News.

"While we are making progress, there's always the risk there could be some challenges that could extend the schedule into April," he says.

The Chalk River, Ontario-based, 52-year-old reactor has been shut down for repairs since May, when a heavy water leak was discovered. Before it shuttered, the reactor accounted for nearly 40 percent of the global supply of molybdenum-99, an important medical isotope.

The AECL estimates that 27 percent of the repairs, begun December 12, have been completed so far.

The next stage of rehabilitation involves horizontal welding of the damaged vessel. As with the rest of the project, this required the AECL engineers to develop new tools.

"No tools [for this] existed before the reactor was shut down. We've had to develop and invent all these tools - and fabricate them - before we could do the repairs. It's what we've been working on since May," says Coffin.

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