In its lawsuit, MDS Inc. said AECL failed to meet its contractual obligations when the Crown corporation and Ottawa decided to scrap its MAPLE reactor project that would have produced the medical isotopes.
The lawsuit also claims damages against Ottawa for “interference with economic relations” over the decision in May to cancel the project.
“We have had to resort to taking these steps to protect the interests of patients, the nuclear medicine community, our shareholders and our customers,” MDS CEO Stephen DeFalco said in a statement today. “We are disappointed that AECL and the government decided to abandon the MAPLE project without establishing a clear plan for the long-term supply of critical medical isotopes.”
AECL is defending its decision to cancel the MAPLE project, citing a serious design flaw.
“AECL believes that it has met and continues to meet its obligations under its agreements with MDS Nordion. AECL will, therefore, vigorously defend both the arbitration and the civil action,” the Crown corporation said in a statement.
DeFalco said his company’s primary objective is to have AECL honour its commitment to replace the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor by bringing the reactors into service, and provide a 40-year supply of medical isotopes, required by patients worldwide for medical needs.
In 1996, MDS entered into an agreement with AECL for the design, development and construction of two new nuclear reactors and a processing facility, known as the MAPLE project. The project was intended to replace the NRU reactor, which produces about 50 per cent of the world’s medical isotopes.
AECL had agreed to provide interim supply of medical isotopes from NRU until the MAPLE project was operational.
The MAPLE project was to be completed by 2000 at a cost to MDS of $145 million. Five years later, the project was not yet completed and cost to MDS had exceeded $350 million.
MDS said the cancellation, announced May 16, came without notice just four days after the company had received a regular update from AECL “indicating that the project was proceeding as planned.”
“AECL had never wavered from their commitment pre-May 16,” said MDS spokesperson Janet Ko. “We were surprised...when they unilaterally made their announcement.”
Medical isotopes are used to diagnose potentially life-threatening conditions such as heart disease and to treat serious diseases such as cancer.
jchin@missisauga.net
