Scientists at UBC's TRIUMF nuclear physics lab have partnered with counterparts in India to produce medical isotopes.
Under the deal, which is valued at $10.4 million, physicists at TRIUMF and at India's Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) will work to design, construct and test isotope-production systems. The work will help to set up two new facilities: the University of Victoria's ARIEL lab and ANURIB in India.
"The Pacific may seem like a big ocean, but for TRIUMF, India is just around the corner," said Nigel Lockyer, director of TRIUMF.
"This second major new agreement builds on the alignment between our two laboratories and our two countries about what is important and how to make a better future for our people: next-generation accelerators, new isotopes and global co-operation are all part of the solution."
Scientists and governments have been scrambling to find alternative sources for medical isotopes after Ontario's aging Chalk River nuclear facility shut down in 2009 for more than a year.
Chalk River produces half to two-thirds of the medical isotopes used globally to diagnose and treat illnesses such as heart attacks and cancer.
