An Indian-origin businessman who owns a long-established medical manufacturer in Kanata (High-tech suburb of Ottawa) says he is being forced to relocate operations to India and US as the company gives up its nuclear licence. This is a move he says will cost hundreds of high-tech jobs.Krishnan Suthanthiran, owner of Best Theratronics, said surrendering the licence would lead to “the loss of 200 high-tech jobs” after Canada’s nuclear regulator took action over the company’s failure to meet licence conditions.On Friday, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) confirmed that Best Theratronics is in the process of removing the nuclear materials it used to manufacture cancer treatment devices. The company has secured export licences to ship its Cobalt 60 and Cesium 137 sealed sources out of Canada, officials said during a public meeting.Best Theratronics was once a Crown agency and helped develop the world’s first cancer treatment machine, reports CBC News. However, the company has struggled in recent years under private ownership. Suthanthiran said he has lost millions of dollars since buying the business from MDS Nordion in 2007. The firm also faced a long labour dispute, with workers striking for nearly 10 months over pay.In November last year, the CNSC issued formal orders after discovering the company’s financial guarantee had expired. The regulator required Best Theratronics to set aside $1.8 million to cover potential cleanup costs if the site were to be decommissioned.Suthanthiran did not comply. He told CBC in October that the regulator was wrong and that he did not have the funds to restore the guarantee. Instead, he said he would abandon the nuclear licence and shift the company towards non-nuclear activities.In an email to CBC, Suthanthiran said the decision was forcing him “to relocate to the USA and India”, and that the cost of maintaining the nuclear licence was too high.The regulator has ordered the company to submit monthly updates on its progress. However, it missed a December reporting deadline. Company representative Manny Subramanian told the commission the delay was due to Suthanthiran being out of the country.“We ended up sending about a day late or two days late because Krish, the president of the company, was travelling. We couldn’t get ahold of him,” Subramanian said.The next deadline comes on Tuesday, when Best Theratronics must submit an initial plan to decommission its Kanata plant.
