I'm happy to take this question, Mr. Chair.
The government announced in 2010 that the NRU reactor would cease to produce the medical isotopes called molybdenum-99 in October 2016. That policy stands. If you look at the projections from the OECD on this, supply is projected to meet demand after 2016, even though the NRU reactor would cease to produce medical isotopes.
Just to put this in perspective, there was a prolonged shutdown of the NRU in 2009-10. At that time the NRU was producing between 40% and 50% of the world's molybdenum-99. Currently, the NRU on average is producing 15%. It's been decreasing because of the policy that was announced to the world in 2010 that the NRU will cease to produce medical isotopes and will promote the entry into the market of alternative ways to produce medical isotopes. The problem with the market as it was in 2009 was its reliance on aging reactors, which were, each of them, single points of failure in the system. At the time the plan was to fix that problem by encouraging the promotion of other sources of supply to enter the market.
With regard to the specific question about the announcement in 2015 on the future of the NRU, the government decided to prolong the life of the NRU to March 2018, so the NRU would continue to carry out the activities that it does now, which includes research and development, the support of industry for testing, as well as medical isotopes. Medical isotopes will only be done in a backup capacity. Should there be an emergency situation internationally, let's say a shortage that could not be compensated for by any other means in the system, the NRU would keep the capacity to fill the gap in the market, so there would be a contingency or insurance policy, if you will.