Chalk River Laboratories
Encyclopedia
The Chalk River Laboratories (also known as CRL, Chalk River Labs and formerly the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, CRNL) is a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 nuclear
Nuclear reaction
In nuclear physics and nuclear chemistry, a nuclear reaction is semantically considered to be the process in which two nuclei, or else a nucleus of an atom and a subatomic particle from outside the atom, collide to produce products different from the initial particles...

 research facility located near Chalk River
Chalk River
Chalk River is a Canadian rural community part of the Laurentian Hills municipality in Renfrew County, Ontario. It is located in the Upper Ottawa Valley along Highway 17 , 10 km inland from the Ottawa River, approximately 21 km northwest of Petawawa, and 182 km northwest of Ottawa...

, about 180 km (111.8 mi) north-west of Ottawa in the province of Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

.

CRL is a site of major research and development to support and advance nuclear technology, in particular CANDU reactor
CANDU reactor
The CANDU reactor is a Canadian-invented, pressurized heavy water reactor. The acronym refers to its deuterium-oxide moderator and its use of uranium fuel...

 technology. CRL has expertise in physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and engineering and unique research facilities. For example, Bertram Brockhouse
Bertram Brockhouse
Bertram Neville Brockhouse, was a Canadian physicist. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for pioneering contributions to the development of neutron scattering techniques for studies of condensed matter", in particular "for the development of neutron spectroscopy".-Life:Brockhouse was...

, a professor at McMaster University
McMaster University
McMaster University is a public research university whose main campus is located in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land in the residential neighbourhood of Westdale, adjacent to Hamilton's Royal Botanical Gardens...

, received the 1994 Nobel Prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 in Physics for his pioneering work in neutron spectrometry while at CRL from 1950-1962. Sir John Cockcroft
John Cockcroft
Sir John Douglas Cockcroft OM KCB CBE FRS was a British physicist. He shared the Nobel Prize in Physics for splitting the atomic nucleus with Ernest Walton, and was instrumental in the development of nuclear power....

 was an early director of CRL and also a Nobel laureate. CRL produces about one-third of the world's supply of medical radioisotopes
Nuclear medicine
In nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are combined with other elements to form chemical compounds, or else combined with existing pharmaceutical compounds, to form radiopharmaceuticals. These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the patient, can localize to specific organs...

. It is owned and operated by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory...

.

History

The facility arose out of a 1942 collaboration between British and Canadian nuclear researchers which saw a Montreal research laboratory
Montreal Laboratory
The Montreal Laboratory in Montreal, Quebec, Canada was established by the National Research Council of Canada to undertake nuclear research, and to take over some of the scientists and projects from the Tube Alloys nuclear project in Britain...

 established under the National Research Council of Canada
National Research Council of Canada
The National Research Council is an agency of the Government of Canada which conducts scientific research and development.- History :...

 (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
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 go operational (see Lew Kowarski
Lew Kowarski
Lew Kowarski was a naturalized French physicist, of Russian-Polish descent. He was a lesser known but important contributor to nuclear science.-Early life:...

). 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
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory...

 (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
Nuclear medicine
In nuclear medicine procedures, elemental radionuclides are combined with other elements to form chemical compounds, or else combined with existing pharmaceutical compounds, to form radiopharmaceuticals. These radiopharmaceuticals, once administered to the patient, can localize to specific organs...

. Despite the declaration of peaceful use, from 1955 to 1976, Chalk River facilities supplied about 250 kg of plutonium
Plutonium
Plutonium is a transuranic radioactive chemical element with the chemical symbol Pu and atomic number 94. It is an actinide metal of silvery-gray appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when oxidized. The element normally exhibits six allotropes and four oxidation...

, 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, Japan, used about 6.4 kg of plutonium.)

Canada's first nuclear power plant
Nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant is a thermal power station in which the heat source is one or more nuclear reactors. As in a conventional thermal power station the heat is used to generate steam which drives a steam turbine connected to a generator which produces electricity.Nuclear power plants are usually...

, 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.

the 1952 NRX-incident

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
NRX
NRX was a heavy water moderated, light water cooled, nuclear research reactor at the Canadian Chalk River Laboratories, which came into operation in 1947 at a design power rating of 10 MW , increasing to 42 MW by 1954...

 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 destiny, 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. In the cellar of the building some 4.500 tons of radioactive water was found. This water was dumped in ditches around 1600 meters from the border of the Ottawa River
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

. During this accident some 10.000 curie
Curie
The curie is a unit of radioactivity, defined asThis is roughly the activity of 1 gram of the radium isotope 226Ra, a substance studied by the pioneers of radiology, Marie and Pierre Curie, for whom the unit was named. In addition to the curie, activity can be measured using an SI derived unit,...

 or 370 TBq was released. Future U.S. president
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....

 Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. is an American politician who served as the 39th President of the United States and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office...

, then a U.S. Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

 officer, was part of the clean up crew. Two years later the reactor was in use again.

the 1958 NRU-incident

The second accident, in 1958, involved a fuel rupture and fire in the NRU
National Research Universal Reactor
The National Research Universal reactor, located in Chalk River, Ontario, is one of Canada’s national science facilities. It is a multipurpose science facility that serves three main roles....

 reactor building. Some fuel-rods were overheated. With a robotic-crane one of the rods - with metallic uranium
Uranium
Uranium is a silvery-white metallic chemical element in the actinide series of the periodic table, with atomic number 92. It is assigned the chemical symbol U. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons...

 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, 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
Anti-nuclear
The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes the use of nuclear technologies. Many direct action groups, environmental groups, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, national, and international level...

 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 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.

Major facilities

  • ZEEP
    ZEEP
    The ZEEP reactor was a nuclear reactor built at the Chalk River Laboratories near Chalk River, Ontario, Canada . ZEEP first went critical at 3:45 PM, September 5, 1945...

     — Zero Energy Experimental Pile Reactor (1945–1973).
  • NRX
    NRX
    NRX was a heavy water moderated, light water cooled, nuclear research reactor at the Canadian Chalk River Laboratories, which came into operation in 1947 at a design power rating of 10 MW , increasing to 42 MW by 1954...

     — NRX Reactor (1947–1992).
  • NRU
    National Research Universal Reactor
    The National Research Universal reactor, located in Chalk River, Ontario, is one of Canada’s national science facilities. It is a multipurpose science facility that serves three main roles....

     — National Research Universal 135 MWt Reactor (1957–).
    • CNBC
      Canadian Neutron Beam Centre
      The NRC Canadian Neutron Beam Centre is Canada's national centre for materials research using neutrons, and is one of the Chalk River Laboratories. Neutrons are a unique and versatile tool for research in materials of all kinds. This field of science is known as neutron scattering....

       — Canadian Neutron Beam Centre
  • PTR
    Pool Test Reactor
    Pool Test Reactor was a 10 kWt light water moderated pool-type reactor fueled with highly enriched uranium built at Chalk River in 1957. It used 93% enriched uranium-aluminum plate-type fuel. The reactor, was used for burnup measurement of fissile samples from NRX...

     — Pool Test 10 kW Reactor (1957–1990).
  • ZED-2
    ZED-2
    ZED-2 is the successor to the ZEEP reactor. Designed by AECL for CANDU reactor support, the unit saw first criticality in September 1960...

     — Zero Energy Deuterium 200W Reactor (1960–).
  • NPD — Nuclear Power Demonstration 20MW(e) Reactor; located north of CRL in Rolphton, Ontario (1960–1987).
  • SLOWPOKE
    SLOWPOKE reactor
    The SLOWPOKE is a low-energy, pool-type nuclear research reactor designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the late 1960s. John W. Hilborn is the scientist most closely associated with its design...

     — Safe Low-Power Kritical Experiment 5 kW Reactor (1970–1976) — moved to the University of Toronto
    University of Toronto
    The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

     in 1971.
  • TASCC — Tandem Accelerator Superconducting Cyclotron (1986–1996)
  • MAPLE-1
    Maple
    Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

     — Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment Reactor (2000–2008; canceled).
  • MAPLE-2
    Maple
    Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

     — Multipurpose Applied Physics Lattice Experiment Reactor (2003–2008; canceled).

2007 shutdown

On November 18, 2007, the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU)
National Research Universal Reactor
The National Research Universal reactor, located in Chalk River, Ontario, is one of Canada’s national science facilities. It is a multipurpose science facility that serves three main roles....

, which makes medical radioisotopes, was shut down for routine maintenance. This shutdown was extended when AECL, in consultation with the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission , previously known as the Atomic Energy Control Board , is the governmental nuclear power and materials watchdog in Canada...

 (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 makes the majority of the world's supply of medical radioisotopes, including two-thirds of the world's technetium-99m
Technetium-99m
Technetium-99m is a metastable nuclear isomer of technetium-99, symbolized as 99mTc. The "m" indicates that this is a metastable nuclear isomer, i.e., that its half-life of 6 hours is considerably longer than most nuclear isomers that undergo gamma decay...

 http://www.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/highlights/2006/0605chalkriver_e.html. On December 11, 2007, the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...

, 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
Stephen Harper
Stephen Joseph Harper is the 22nd and current Prime Minister of Canada and leader of the Conservative Party. Harper became prime minister when his party formed a minority government after the 2006 federal election...

 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 should be taken in to account in assessing the overall safety concerns of the reactor's operation. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071211.wisotope1211/BNStory/National/ http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1154689120071213 http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/285210 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/12/13/chalk-river-reactor.htmlhttp://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=c70b1f37-7efe-46c1-a165-8b0efd4dfcaa

The NRU reactor was restarted on December 16, 2007.

2008 radioactive leakage

On December 5, 2008, heavy water
Heavy water
Heavy water is water highly enriched in the hydrogen isotope deuterium; e.g., heavy water used in CANDU reactors is 99.75% enriched by hydrogen atom-fraction...

 containing tritium leaked from the NRU reactor
National Research Universal Reactor
The National Research Universal reactor, located in Chalk River, Ontario, is one of Canada’s national science facilities. It is a multipurpose science facility that serves three main roles....

http://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/mediacentre/issues/memo_re_december_2008.cfm. The leaked water was contained within the facility, and the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission
The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission , previously known as the Atomic Energy Control Board , is the governmental nuclear power and materials watchdog in Canada...

 (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
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
Atomic Energy of Canada Limited or AECL is a Canadian federal Crown corporation and Canada's largest nuclear science and technology laboratory...

 mentioned that 47 litres 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 http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090127/radioactive_spill_090127/20090127?hub=Canada&s_name=. The amount that evaporated to the atmosphere is considered to be minor, accounting for less than a thousandth of the regulatory limit http://www.aecl.ca/AssetFactory.aspx?did=971. 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 return) was put in place.
In an unrelated incident, the same reactor had been leaking 7,001 litres of light water per day from a crack in a weld of the reactor's reflector system. This water has been systematically collected, purified in an on-site Waste Treatment Centre, and eventually released to the Ottawa River
Ottawa River
The Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. For most of its length, it now defines the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...

 in accordance with CNSC, Health Canada, and Ministry of the Environment regulations. Although the leakage is not a concern to the CNSC from a health, safety or environmental perspective http://www.cnsc-ccsn.gc.ca/eng/mediacentre/releases/news_release.cfm?news_release_id=332, AECL has 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 repairs — all with remote and restricted access from a minimum distance of 8 metres due to the residual radioactive fields 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.

See also

  • List of Canadian nuclear generating stations
  • George Laurence
    George Laurence
    George Craig Laurence was a Canadian nuclear physicist. He was educated at Dalhousie University, and at Cambridge University under Ernest Rutherford....

  • Lew Kowarski
    Lew Kowarski
    Lew Kowarski was a naturalized French physicist, of Russian-Polish descent. He was a lesser known but important contributor to nuclear science.-Early life:...

  • Hans von Halban
    Hans von Halban
    Hans von Halban was a French physicist, of Austrian-Jewish descent.- Family :He was descended on his father's side from Polish Jews, who left Kraków for Vienna in the 1850s...

  • Science and technology in Canada
    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...


Further reading

  • Robert Bothwell, "Nucleus. The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited", University of Toronto Press, 1988.

External links

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