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Chalk River Laboratories (french: Laboratoires de Chalk River; also known as CRL, Chalk River Labs and formerly Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, CRNL) is a Canadian
nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...
research facility in Deep River, about north-west of
Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the c ...
. CRL is a site of major research and development to support and advance nuclear technology, particularly CANDU reactor technology. CRL has expertise in physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and engineering, and hosts unique research facilities. For example,
Bertram Brockhouse Bertram Neville Brockhouse, (July 15, 1918 – October 13, 2003) was a Canadian physicist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics (1994, shared with Clifford Shull) "for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering tec ...
, a professor at McMaster University, received the 1994
Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
in Physics for his pioneering work in neutron spectroscopy while at CRL from 1950 to 1962. Sir John Cockcroft was an early director of CRL and also a
Nobel laureate The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make o ...
. Until the shutdown of its nuclear reactor in 2018, CRL produced a large share of the world's supply of
medical radioisotopes Radiopharmacology is radiochemistry applied to medicine and thus the pharmacology of radiopharmaceuticals (medicinal radiocompounds, that is, pharmaceutical drugs that are radioactive). Radiopharmaceuticals are used in the field of nuclear medic ...
. It is owned by the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories subsidiary of
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...
and operated under contract by the Canadian National Energy Alliance, a private-sector consortium led by SNC-Lavalin.


History

The facility arose out of a 1942 collaboration between British and Canadian nuclear researchers which saw the Montreal Laboratory established under the National Research Council (NRC). By 1944, the Chalk River Laboratories (known as “Petawawa Works” of
Defence Industries Limited Defence Industries Limited (DIL) was a subsidiary of Canadian Industries Limited (C-I-L), founded in 1939 to manufacture munitions for use in World War II. The company operated in number of locations in Canada, in the provinces of Ontario, Quebec ...
during the early stages) were opened and, in September 1945, the facility saw the first nuclear reactor outside of the United States,
ZEEP The ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) reactor was a nuclear reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, Canada (which superseded the Montreal Laboratory for nuclear research in Canada). ZEEP first went critical ...
, become operational (see Lew Kowarski). In 1946, NRC closed the Montreal laboratory and focused its resources on Chalk River. In 1952,
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...
(AECL) was created by the government to promote peaceful use of nuclear energy. AECL also took over operation of Chalk River from the NRC. Since the 1950s, various nuclear research reactors have been operated by AECL for production of nuclear material for medical and scientific applications. At one point in time, the Chalk River Laboratories produced about one-third of the world's medical isotopes, and about half of the North American supply. Despite the declaration of peaceful use, from 1955 to 1985, Chalk River facilities supplied about of
plutonium Plutonium is a radioactive chemical element with the symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, and forms a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exh ...
, in the form of spent reactor fuel, to the U.S. Department of Energy to be used in the production of nuclear weapons. (The bomb dropped on
Nagasaki is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture on the island of Kyushu in Japan. It became the sole port used for trade with the Portuguese and Dutch during the 16th through 19th centuries. The Hidden Christian Sites in the ...
, Japan, used about of plutonium.) Canada's first
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ...
, a partnership between AECL and
Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario Hydroelectricity, or hydroelectric power, is electricity generated from hydropower (water power). Hydropower supplies one sixth of the world's electricity, almost 4500 TWh in 2020, which is more than all other renewable sources combined and ...
, went online in 1962 near the site of Chalk River Laboratories. This reactor,
Nuclear Power Demonstration Nuclear Power Demonstration (or NPD) was the first Canadian nuclear power reactor, and the prototype for the CANDU reactor design. Built by Canadian General Electric (now GE Canada), in partnership with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), Ont ...
(NPD), was a demonstration of the CANDU reactor design, one of the world's safest and most successful nuclear reactors. The Deep River neutron monitor operated once in Chalk river.


1952 NRX incident

Chalk River was also the site of two nuclear accidents in the 1950s. The first incident occurred on December 12, 1952, when there was a power excursion and partial loss of coolant in the NRX reactor, which resulted in significant damage to the core. The control rods could not be lowered into the core because of mechanical problems and human errors. Three rods did not reach their destination and were taken out again by accident. The fuel rods were overheated, resulting in a meltdown. The reactor and the reactor building were seriously damaged by hydrogen explosions. The seal of the reactor vessel was blown up four feet, and of radioactive water were found in the cellar of the building. This water was dumped in ditches around from the border of the
Ottawa River The Ottawa River (french: Rivière des Outaouais, Algonquin: ''Kichi-Sìbì/Kitchissippi'') is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It is named after the Algonquin word 'to trade', as it was the major trade route of Eastern ...
. During this accident some of radioactive material was released. Future U.S. president
Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, then a U.S. Navy officer in Schenectady, New York, was part of a team of 26 men, including 13 U.S. Navy volunteers in the hazardous cleanup. Two years later the reactor was in use again. ''The Canadian Nuclear FAQ'
What are the details of the accident at Chalk River's NRX reactor in 1952?


1958 NRU incident

The second accident, in 1958, involved a fuel rupture and fire in the National Research Universal reactor (NRU) reactor building. Some fuel rods were overheated. With a robotic crane, one of the rods with metallic
uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...
was pulled out of the reactor vessel. When the arm of the crane moved away from the vessel, the uranium caught fire and the rod broke. The largest part of the rod fell down into the containment vessel, still burning. The whole building was contaminated. The valves of the ventilation system were opened, and a large area outside the building was contaminated. The fire was extinguished by scientists and maintenance men in protective clothing running along the hole in the containment vessel with buckets of wet sand, throwing the sand down at the moment they passed the smoking entrance. 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. However, the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, an
anti-nuclear The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, nationa ...
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. Chalk River Laboratories remain an AECL facility to this day and is 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 NRU, which made medical radioisotopes, was shut down for routine maintenance. This shutdown was extended when AECL, in consultation with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC), 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 CNSC. This resulted in a worldwide shortage of radioisotopes for medical treatments because Chalk River made the majority of the world's supply of medical radioisotopes, including two-thirds of the world's
technetium-99m Technetium-99m (99mTc) is a metastable nuclear isomer of technetium-99 (itself an isotope of technetium), symbolized as 99mTc, that is used in tens of millions of medical diagnostic procedures annually, making it the most commonly used medica ...
. On December 11, 2007, the
House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Commo ...
, 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 Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in oth ...
on December 12. Prime Minister
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
criticized the CNSC for this shutdown which "jeopardized the health and safety of tens of thousands of Canadians", insisting that there was no risk, contrary to the testimony of then CNSC President & CEO Linda Keen. She would later be fired for ignoring a decision by Parliament to restart the reactor, reflecting its policy that the safety of citizens requiring essential
nuclear medicine Nuclear medicine or nucleology is a medical specialty involving the application of radioactive substances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Nuclear imaging, in a sense, is " radiology done inside out" because it records radiation emi ...
should be taken into account in assessing the overall safety concerns of the reactor's operation. The NRU reactor was restarted on December 16, 2007.


2008 radioactive leakage

On December 5, 2008, heavy water containing tritium leaked from the NRU. The leaked water was contained within the facility, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) was notified immediately, as required. In its formal report to the CNSC, filed on December 9, 2008 (when the volume of leakage was determined to meet the requirement for such a report) AECL mentioned that of heavy water were released from the reactor, about 10% of which evaporated and the rest contained, but affirmed that the spill was not serious and did not present a threat to public health. The amount that evaporated to the atmosphere is considered to be minor, accounting for less than a thousandth of the regulatory limit. The public was informed of the shutdown at the reactor, but not the details of the leakage, since it was not deemed to pose a risk to the public or environment. The leak stopped before the source could be identified, and the reactor was restarted on December 11, 2008 with the approval of the CNSC, after a strategy for dealing with the leak (should it reappear) was put in place. In an unrelated incident, the same reactor had been leaking of light water per day from a crack in a weld of the reactor's reflector system. This water was being systematically collected, purified in an on-site Waste Treatment Centre, and eventually released to the Ottawa River in accordance with CNSC, Health Canada, and Ministry of the Environment regulations. Although the leakage was not a concern to the CNSC from a health, safety or environmental perspective, AECL made plans for a repair to reduce the current leakage rate for operational reasons.


2009 NRU reactor shutdown

In mid-May 2009, the heavy water leak at the base of the NRU reactor vessel, first detected in 2008 (see above), returned at a greater rate and prompted another temporary shutdown that lasted until August 2010. The lengthy shutdown was necessary to first completely defuel the entire reactor, then ascertain the full extent of the corrosion to the vessel, and finally to effect the repairsall with remote and restricted access from a minimum distance of due to the residual radioactivity in the reactor vessel. The 2009 shutdown occurred at a time when only one of the other four worldwide regular medical isotope sourcing reactors was producing, resulting in a worldwide shortage.


NRU shutdown in March 2018

The NRU reactor licence expired in 2016. However, the licence was extended to March 31, 2018. The reactor was shut down for the last time at 7 p.m. on March 31, 2018, and has entered a "state of storage" prior to decommissioning operations which will continue for many years within the scope of future operating or decommissioning licences issued by the CNSC.


Modernization and decommissioning

The site remains in active use as of 2022. In 2016, 1.2 billion CAD was allotted over ten years to decommission 120 old buildings and build new ones. The new buildings were completed starting in 2020, as the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Research Facilities.


Major facilities

*
ZEEP The ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) reactor was a nuclear reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, Canada (which superseded the Montreal Laboratory for nuclear research in Canada). ZEEP first went critical ...
 – Zero Energy Experimental Pile Reactor (1945–1973). * NRX – NRX Reactor (1947–1992). * NRU – National Research Universal 135 MW (thermal) Reactor (1957–2018). **
CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk s ...
 – Canadian Neutron Beam Centre (ended operation along with NRU in 2018). * PTR – Pool Test 10 kW Reactor (1957–1990). * ZED-2 – Zero Energy Deuterium 200W Reactor (1960–present). * 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 The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
in 1971. *
TASCC Tandem Accelerator Superconducting Cyclotron (TASCC) was a Canadian particle accelerator facility constructed at Chalk River Laboratories on October 3, 1986. TASCC was the world's first Tandem Accelerator and able to accelerate most elements to ...
 – Tandem Accelerator Superconducting Cyclotron (1986–1996). * MAPLE-1 – Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment Reactor (2000–2008; canceled). * MAPLE-2 – Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment Reactor (2003–2008; canceled). * CRIPT – Cosmic Ray Inspection and Passive Tomography


See also

*
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory. AECL developed the CANDU reactor technology starting in the 1950s, and in October 2011 licensed this ...
* CANDU reactor * Lew Kowarski *
George Laurence George Craig Laurence (21 January 1905 – 6 November 1987) was a Canadian nuclear physicist. He was educated at Dalhousie University, and at Cambridge University under Ernest Rutherford. He was appointed as Radium and X-ray physicist to the C ...
*
Manhattan Project The Manhattan Project was a research and development undertaking during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the project w ...
*
Nuclear power in Canada Nuclear power in Canada is provided by 19 commercial reactors with a net capacity of 13.5 gigawatt (GW), producing a total of 95.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity, which accounted for 16.6% of the country's total electric energy generation ...
* Petten nuclear reactor, a nuclear reactor in the Netherlands that produces Europe's supply of isotopes for nuclear medicine *
Science and technology in Canada Science and technology in Canada consists of three distinct but closely related phenomena: * the diffusion of technology in Canada * scientific research in Canada * innovation, invention and industrial research in Canada In 2019, Canada spent ...


References


Further reading

* Robert Bothwell, "Nucleus. The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited", University of Toronto Press, 1988. * http://www.cnl.ca/en/home/default.aspx


External links


NRC Archives Photographs - Physics- Atomic Energy Project collection
* ttp://www.nuclearfaq.ca/cnf_sectionD.htm#nru1958 What are the details of the accident at Chalk River's NRU reactor in 1958? (Canadian Nuclear FAQ, Dr. Jeremy Whitlock)br>AM 530 kHz
CKML (see article) Emergency Broadcast Information Only (CRTC Approval November 25, 1998) {{authority control Atomic Energy of Canada Limited 1944 establishments in Ontario 2007 in Canadian politics Buildings and structures in Renfrew County Nuclear accidents and incidents Nuclear medicine organizations Nuclear power stations in Ontario Nuclear research institutes Nuclear technology in Canada Public–private partnership projects in Canada Research institutes in Canada Research institutes established in 1944