Chalk River Laboratories
The Chalk River Laboratories (also known as CRL, Chalk River Labs and formerly the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, CRNL) is a Canadian nuclear research facility located near Chalk River, Ontario, about 180 km North-West of Ottawa.
CRL is a site of major research and development to support and advance nuclear technology, in particular CANDU reactor technology. CRL has world-class expertise in physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and engineering and some unique research facilities. For example, Bertram Brockhouse received a Nobel Prize for research carried out at CRL. Chalk River Labs is also a site of production of major quantities of medical radioisotopes. It is a part of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.
History
The facility arose out of a 1942 collaboration between British and Canadian nuclear researchers which saw a Montreal research laboratory established under the National Research Council of Canada (NRC). By 1944 the Chalk River Labs were opened and in September, 1945 the facility saw the first nuclear reactor outside of the United States go operational (see Lew Kowarski). In 1946, NRC closed the Montreal lab and focused its resources on Chalk River.
In 1952, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), was created by the government to promote peaceful use of nuclear energy. AECL also took over operation of Chalk River from the NRC. Throughout the 1950s-2000s various nuclear research reactors have been operated by AECL for production of nuclear material for medical and scientific applications. The Labs produce about half of the world's medical isotopes.
Canada's first nuclear power plant, a partnership between AECL and Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario, went online in 1962 near the site of Chalk River Labs. This reactor, Nuclear Power Demonstration (NPD), was a demonstration of the CANDU design, one of the world's safest and most successful nuclear reactors.
Chalk River was also the site of two nuclear accidents in the 1950s. The first incident occurred in 1952, when there was a power surge and partial loss of coolant in the NRX reactor which resulted in significant damage to the core. Future US president Jimmy Carter, then a US Navy serviceman, was part of the clean up crew. [1][2]
The second accident, in 1958, involved a fuel rupture and fire in the NRU reactor building. Both accidents required a major cleanup effort involving many civilian and military personnel. Follow-up health monitoring of these workers has not revealed any adverse impacts from the two accidents.[3][4] However, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, an anti-nuclear watchdog group, notes that some cleanup workers who were part of the military contingent assigned to the NRU reactor building unsuccessfully applied for a military disability pension due to health damages.[5]
Chalk River Labs remain an AECL facility to this day and are used as both a research (in partnership with the NRC) and production facility (on behalf of AECL) in support of other Canadian electrical utilities.
2007 shutdown
On November 18, 2007, the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU), which makes medical radioisotopes, was shut down for routine maintenance. This shutdown was extended when AECL decided to connect seismically-qualified emergency power supplies (EPS) to two of the reactor's cooling pumps (in addition to the AC and DC backup power systems already in place), which had been required as part of its August 2006 operating licence issued by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC). This resulted in a worldwide shortage of radioisotopes for medical treatments because Chalk River makes the majority of the world's supply of radioisotopes, including two-thirds of the world's technetium-99m [6]. On December 11, 2007, the Canadian House of Commons, acting on independent expert advice, passed emergency legislation authorizing the restarting of the NRU reactor and its operation for 120 days (counter to the decision of the CNSC), which was passed by the Senate and received Royal Assent on December 12. Prime Minister Stephen Harper accused the "Liberal-appointed" CNSC for this shutdown which "jeopardized the health and safety of tens of thousands of Canadians". [7] [8] [9] [10]
The NRU reactor was restarted on December 16, 2007.
Major facilities
- ZEEP - Zero Energy Experimental Pile Reactor (1945-1973).
- NRX - NRX Reactor (1947-1992).
- NRU - National Research Universal 135 MWt Reactor (1957-).
- PTR - Pool Test 10 kW Reactor (1957-1990).
- ZED-2 - Zero Energy Deuterium 200W Reactor (1960-).
- NPD - Nuclear Power Demonstration 20MW(e) Reactor; located north of CRL in Rolphton, Ontario (1960-1987).
- SLOWPOKE - Safe Low-Power Kritical Experiment 5 kW Reactor (1970-1976) - moved to the University of Toronto in 1971.
- TASCC - Tandem Accelerator Superconducting Cyclotron
- MAPLE-1 - Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment Reactor (2000-).
- MAPLE-2 - Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment Reactor (2003-).
See also
Further reading
- Robert Bothwell, "Nucleus. The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited", University of Toronto Press, 1988.
External links
- Radioisotopes produced at Chalk River
- Nuclear Accidents at Chalk River: The Human Fallout
- What are the details of the accident at Chalk River's NRX reactor in 1952? (Canadian Nuclear FAQ, Dr. Jeremy Whitlock)
- What are the details of the accident at Chalk River's NRU reactor in 1958? (Canadian Nuclear FAQ, Dr. Jeremy Whitlock)
- AM 530 KHz Emergency Broadcast Information Only (CRTC Approval November 25th, 1998)
- Critics slam use of weapons-grade uranium in Canadian reactors