That will be me.
Good morning. My name is Richard Wiens, and I'm the director of strategic supply at Nordion. I'm joined by Emily Craven, our marketing manager.
First of all, I'd like to thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for providing an opportunity for me to speak today.
In the early 1960s the Government of Canada, through AECL, was a major contributor to the creation of an important industry that endures today and benefits the health and well-being of millions of people in Canada and around the world. The lifeblood of this industry is a radioisotope called cobalt-60. Cobalt-60 is produced in nuclear reactors and is used to sterilize more than 40% of the global volume of single-use medical devices, things like drapes, gowns, syringes, gloves, and those sorts of things. If you go into a doctor's office or a surgical suite or an outpatient clinic today, almost one in two of everything you see lying around will have been sterilized with cobalt-60. A special form of this isotope is also used for the treatment of cancer and other diseases.
Today the majority of cobalt-60 is produced in CANDU reactors in the province of Ontario, although the isotope was first produced at Chalk River Laboratories. The isotope was produced and sold by a division of AECL, known at the time as the Radiochemical Company.