Australia built their reactor between the time we first started asking for a new reactor and now, and theirs is operating and we still don't have a replacement. The NRU is down again; it has a leak. It has precipitated yet another isotope crisis, and these are warnings that we need to deal with the problem. It's a very compressive reactor. It has done a lot of important work. It has been a leading facility in Canada. It has dominated the isotope production business around the world. We've been producing about 80% of the available molybdenum 99, and it's been a critical resource, but now it needs to be replaced.
The construction of a new multi-purpose reactor, one that will provide medical isotopes, enable cutting-edge materials in engineering research, and provide a solid knowledge-based foundation for the development of the next generation power reactors, is a national issue that transcends the mandates of individual departments or agencies. It relates to science, industry, health, energy, environment, international relations, and education. And only a multi-purpose research reactor will fully support the variety of missions that are currently carried out at NRU.
Generation IV nuclear reactor designs, which allow us to use all the energy available in uranium, will allow us to take what is now a 60-year energy reserve in Saskatchewan and turn it into a multi-thousand-year energy reserve if we use it efficiently in generation IV designs.
Nuclear medicine underpins all modern health care. I'll bet every person in this room knows at least one person who has benefited directly from medical isotopes produced in NRU, whether to treat thyroid problems, heart problems, or cancer. Not having the supply is a problem. Industrial research, neutron beam research, and so on are all extremely important; they're in my brief.
It's an expensive project: $800 million to $1 billion. It would generate all that activity in Canada. The construction happens here, the design happens here to support the industries in Canada.