A Kanata company that produces nuclear medical equipment has failed to meet a June 9 deadline set by the Canada’s nuclear safety watchdog.
Best Theratronics Ltd.
manufactures external beam therapy units, blood irradiators, and cyclotrons for hospitals and medical research centres outside Canada. It’s part of the Virginia-based TeamBest Global Companies empire headed by Krishnan Suthanthiran, who purchased the company from MDS Nordion in 2007 for a reported $15 million.
Last November, Best Theratronics was ordered to provide a $1.8-million financial guarantee to cover the costs of decommissioning the plant on March Road, should that be necessary, by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
However, Best Theratronics has failed to meet the deadline, said CNSB in response to questions from Postmedia.
Given that the deadline has passed, “CNSC staff will be contacting Best Theratronics to determine the next steps,” said the commission, which regulates nuclear energy, facilities and materials.
“The financial order is still in place and Best Theratronics has not yet fulfilled the conditions of the order.”
Best Theratronics is required to re-establish an overall financial guarantee of $1.8 million acceptable to the commission, which is calculated based on the estimated costs of decommissioning, said CNSC in a statement.
“As Canada’s nuclear regulator, our rigorous oversight of this facility is ongoing, and we continue to monitor Best Theratronics Ltd. and all nuclear licensees for regular compliance to ensure the safety of workers, the public and the environment.”
The financial guarantee is a condition of Best Theratronics’ operating licence. According to a CNSC decision,
Best Theratronics had failed to maintain the financial guarantee
, gave inaccurate reports to the CNSC about the validity of its financial guarantee and was inattentive to updating its preliminary decommissioning plan. That was cause for “significant concern,” said the decision, signed by CNSC president Pierre Tremblay.
Under the CNSB order, among other conditions, Best Theratronics can’t operate a cyclotron or possess nuclear substances for manufacturing radiation devices and radioactive source teletherapy machines. It also can’t possess a radioactive source teletherapy machine for the purposes of developing and testing radioactive source teletherapy machines.
Best Theratronics was also ordered to provide a plan that describes the measures it will take “to ensure that resumption of operations can be done in a safe and secure manner.”
The purpose of a financial guarantee is to provide for the safe disposal of high-risk sealed sources and licensed material, according to the CNSB.
In a letter to Suthanthiran posted on its website, CNSC noted that in email exchanges with the commission, Suthanthiran expressed concern with the order, but did not indicate whether he intended to seek recourse or to comply with the order.
The letter requested that Suthanthiran submit a record of actions taken to re-establish the guarantee and a record of actions remaining to be taken, as well as a date by which Best Theratronics anticipated it would submit the guarantee to CNSC.
Under the Nuclear Safety and Control Act, any person named in an order shall comply with the order, whether or not they had an opportunity to make representations about the order, said the letter.
In response to a Postmedia request for comment, Suthanthiran said he was in the process of drafting a response to CNSC and said he would share a copy by June 20.
Best Theratronics’ March Road plant was the target of a manufacturing workers’
strike that lasted almost 10 months
, ending in February. In May 2024, he sent a mass email to workers saying because of “recent challenges” in manufacturing products at the Kanata plant, he was transferring the work to his other companies and outside contractors. Manufacturing in Canada is “a challenging and expensive task with significant unpredictability,” he said.
Unifor, the union that represented the workers, said Suthanthiran
“may very well be in the running for Canada’s worst boss.”
On Feb. 28, the Canada Industrial Relations Board decided that Best Theratronics
failed to bargain in good faith
after receiving a complaint from Unifor.
