" Nuclear reactor not necessary for medicine: doctors "

["Franta, Jaroslav" <frantaj@AECL.CA>]

Hmmm -- makes one wonder how it would be if everyone thought the same way,

and nobody built reactors....



Jaro 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^



Fed: Nuclear reactor not necessary for medicine: doctors

Australian Associated Press General News

30 August 2004  



N SYDNEY, Aug 30 AAP - There was no medical justification for a new nuclear

reactor in Sydney, doctors said today.



Emerging technology would soon replace the need for radioactive isotopes,

currently used in the diagnosis and treatment of illnesses including cancer,

Associate Professor Lou Irving said today.



"It's likely that in the long-term - 10 years plus - isotopes generated by

nuclear reactors will be redundant for medical purposes and it will be taken

up by isotopes generated by cyclotrons (magnetic particle accelerators), or

by other technology," he said.



Prof Irving, the director of respiratory medicine at Royal Melbourne

Hospital, joined other doctors in Sydney today to call for the government to

abandon plans to build a new nuclear reactor in Sydney's suburban Lucas

Heights.



Even if medicine continued to need radioactive isotopes, Prof Irving said

they could be sourced from other countries.



"There are alternative sources of isotopes that are currently being used

and, in fact, most countries throughout the world import their isotopes," he

said.



Former diplomat, Adjunct Professor Richard Broinowski said it would be a

furphy to say Australia would lose its place on the board of the

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) if the reactor wasn't built.



"In my view, as a former diplomat, it's absolutely irrelevant to Australia's

credentials as a nuclear player," said Prof Broinowski, of the University of

Sydney.



Conservationists backed the doctors' calls to abandon plans for a new

reactor.



"Since 1997, the Howard government's sole justification for the construction

of this new $350 million nuclear reactor has been that it is essential for

the production of life-saving medicines," said Australian Conservation

Foundation director Don Henry.



"We don't need a nuclear reactor to create nuclear medicines.



"We can have access to state-of-the-art nuclear medicine by importing some

reactor-produced isotopes and producing the remainder here in cyclotrons."