Concerning some of the statements made, first of all, it was not known that the NRU was not functionable; in fact, quite the opposite was the case. This government was looking at extending its licence, because of the fact that the NRU was working. Indeed, over the fall the NRU produced 60% of the world's isotopes; it worked very well. It is a reality that this is one of the oldest reactors in the world and that it will encounter technical difficulties, and we have one right now.
So to indicate that we knew there was going to be a medical isotope shortage is simply not the case.
With respect to what we have done and what we have learned, out of December 2007 the fragility of the global isotope chain has been revealed. It was important for us as Canadians to connect with the rest of the isotope-producing and isotope-consuming countries, and that's what we have done. We now chair the high-level working group on dealing with the supply chain.
But for the fact that we had developed those relationships, we would not have achieved the very quick results in two weeks of having Petten be able to ramp up their production, having Belgium be able to indicate that they can add to their capacity, and also having SAFARI indicate that they can ramp up as well. It is a direct result of the action that was taken by this government that we were able to address this situation as quickly as we did.