Natural Resources committee  I will reiterate the recommendation issued in 2009 by the expert panel. It was to build a new nuclear reactor on Canadian soil to replace the NRU reactor. That was the main recommendation of the report. That reactor would be used for research on neutrons and for developing new CANDU reactors, with a secondary mission of manufacturing medical isotopes.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you. As for the production of medical isotopes by a nuclear reactor, the panel of medical experts created in 2009 and I have always felt that this was the secondary mission and not the primary mission of a nuclear reactor. I think we need to properly establish the principle whereby a nuclear reactor is a device used mainly for research.

Natural Resources committee  The government has been heavily involved since 2009 in terms of funding programs for the use of accelerators to produce isotopes. The Sherbrooke centre has twice received funding from the Canadian government to find a way to use cyclotrons to produce technetium. We can produce technetium and we are allowed to use it on humans, but we are still at the research stage.

Natural Resources committee  We do feel that the research is scattered. Unfortunately, the funding is diluted as a result, and that does not foster the installation of high technology in a specific location. However, the competition created in a number of areas forces us to challenge ourselves. Canada even has the reputation of doing a lot with very little.

Natural Resources committee  I really appreciate your question. There are several aspects to our work. The Molecular Imaging Centre of Sherbrooke was created in 1998, with the installation of a cyclotron, a device that runs on electricity and is used to produce research isotopes. Afterwards, the centre grew a lot thanks to the hiring of radiophysicians and radiochemists, the team needed to produce isotopes.

Natural Resources committee  Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for the invitation to appear before the committee. I am here as a representative of nuclear medicine specialists. I am an associate professor of nuclear medicine at the Université de Sherbrooke. I am also the clinical head of the Molecular Imaging Centre of Sherbrooke.