NTP Radioisotopes last month confirmed that the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) had given it the go-ahead to resume production of essential medical radioisotopes at its Pelindaba facility.

NTP, which is a subsidiary of State-owned South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa), would start with preliminary production readiness runs before resuming full production runs, it said in a statement.

The NNR had to approve the facility’s restart, after it ordered NTP to shut it down in November last year, following a non-risk incident involving the activation of safety protocols that had halted the production of medical radioisotopes.

At the time, Necsa chairperson Dr Kelvin Kemm described the incident as a minor technical problem as a result of paperwork errors that could cause potential safety problems.

Kemm stated that work at the facility was continuing, but NTP was not allowed to send the material out and, consequently, there had been a 50% reduction in the nuclear medicine material available in South Africa, with medical radioisotopes having to be imported for several months.

Production restarted in February, but was shut down again in June, owing to the detection of a “slight hydrogen excess” in one of NTP’s production hot cells, NTP reported in May.

In September, Energy Minister Jeff Radebe assumed oversight of the NTP board, acting through Deputy Energy Minister Thembisile Majola, to deal with the shortages of key radioisotopes.

“Our priority was to facilitate an uncompromised safe return to reliable supply of this active pharmaceutical ingredient from South Africa to the global nuclear medicine fraternity, with the emphasis on safety and reliability,” the Deputy Minister said last month.

She added that, while the NNR’s processes were sometimes seen as time consuming, they were essential to the outcome.

“The nuclear regulator’s primary mandate is to ensure that all safety standards are met, so that we can achieve safe operating conditions. The uncompromised integrity and independence of their work is what protects us all,” she said.

NTP MD Tina Eboka commented that the extended shutdown had strengthened the company’s working relationship with, and appreciation of, the role of the regulator, as well as strengthened its corporate safety culture.

The company would now start rebuilding customer trust and lost business, she added.

“Before the shutdown, we were a profitable R1.3-billion-turnover company. Right now, we need to focus on returning to those levels of success as quickly as reasonably possible and position NTP for sustained growth over the medium term.

Now, with the approval of the NNR and the support of the [Energy] Ministry, and Necsa as the licence holder, we can focus on a strategy of consolidation and then growth,” she stated.