The Whiteshell Nuclear Research Establishment, now Whiteshell Laboratories, was established by the Government of Canada

Government of Canada

The Government of Canada, formally Her Majesty's Government, is the system whereby the federation of Canada is administered by a common authority; in Canadian English, the term can mean either the collective set of institutions or specifically the Queen-in-Council...

 in 1963 as an AECL

AECL

AECL is an acronym that can stand for:*Advanced Electronics Company Limited*Atomic Energy of Canada Limited*Australian Egg Corporation Limited...

 research laboratory in Pinawa

Pinawa, Manitoba

Pinawa is a small Canadian community of about 1500 residents located in southeastern Manitoba, 110 kilometres north-east of Winnipeg. The town is situated on the Canadian Shield within the western boundary of Whiteshell Provincial Park, which lies near the Manitoba-Ontario provincial boundary...

, Manitoba

Manitoba

Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...

. This facility was centered around the largest organically cooled, 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...

 moderated, nuclear reactor

Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...

 in the world, the WR-1

WR-1

The WR-1 reactor was a research reactor located at AECL's Whiteshell Laboratories, located near Pinawa, Manitoba.The 60 MWt WR-1 was designed and built by Canadian General Electric, and first achieved criticality in 1965. The reactor was built at a cost of $14.5 Million CDN . The original purpose...

.

Also at Whiteshell AECL built and partly commissioned a SLOWPOKE reactor

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...

 (SDR), to demonstrate the Slowpoke Energy System, an in-ground pool reactor designed to supply 10,000 kW of hot water for district heating

District heating

District heating is a system for distributing heat generated in a centralized location for residential and commercial heating requirements such as space heating and water heating...

. The project was terminated after market interest in a nuclear heating system dwindled.

The site consists of a number of nuclear and non-nuclear facilities and activities. In 1998, AECL decided to close Whiteshell Laboratories and many of the facilities and activities have since ceased active operation.