Chalk River Laboratories

The Chalk River Laboratories ( CRL abbreviation Chalk River Labs and formerly the Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories ) are a in 1944 opened Canadian research facility in Renfrew County on the southern shore of the Ottawa River in Ontario, Canada, about 160 kilometers northwest of Ottawa. The plant derives its name from the nearby Chalk River, a tributary of the Ottawa River, where there are the laboratories. The owner and operator is Atomic Energy of Canada Limited ( AECL ). Nearby there is also the small village of Chalk River.

Use

Originally, the plant was built after the Second World War for nuclear research, the laboratories were originally part of the National Research Council of Canada. 1952, the plant was taken over by AECL. The laboratories consist of 100 buildings that were built on a square kilometer area and employ 2,000 people. The neutrons produced are used for research neutron scattering.

In the complex there are numerous facilities, around 160 buildings covering an area of ​​about 40 square kilometers. In the Chalk River Laboratories, there are facilities for fuel fabrication, research and the disposal and storage of radioactive waste. The operator has constructed plants for the production of medical radioisotopes and currently takes more such plants in operation. These facilities, which are not yet in operation, are two non- power reactors ( MAPLE 1 and MAPLE 2) and a processing plant. Waste from the operation of long-term storage on site. These areas are also supplied with radioactive waste from other facilities (eg radioisotope manufacturers and users, hospitals, universities and industrial facilities ) across Canada.

Scientists and engineers conduct research and product development. The CANDU reactor technology will be further developed in the system. In the complex you also conducts research in the fields of physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biology and technology. Environmental scientist and a strict environmental protection program shall ensure that the impact of the operations at the plant are irrelevant to the health of employees, the public and the environment. The National Research Universal ( NRU ) reactor, Canada's largest and most prolific scientific institution and one of the world's most versatile research reactors, is operated by the Chalk River Laboratories since 1957. NRU is Canada's only major materials testing reactor in which materials and nuclear fuel for CANDU reactors and Canada's nuclear industry to be tested. He also serves as a neutron source and also produced the majority of the world's medical isotopes used, which are used in the diagnosis and treatment of life-threatening diseases and thus helps to treat annually more than 21 million people in 60 countries. In the NRU reactor, scientists can explore such as steel, biological tissue or superconductors. However, NRU is not to generate electricity.

The Chalk River Labs are a AECL plant and operated as a research ( in partnership with the National Research Council ) and production system ( AECL ) in support of other Canadian energy companies.

History

Through the National Research Council of Canada, the location for the first Canadian nuclear reactors has been selected. From the Canadian Minister Clarence D. Howe of the site in August 1944 was approved. In October 1944, 350 men were on site to eliminate trees and ferns on the banks of the Ottawa River and to undertake the construction of roads, water lines and basic infrastructure. Within a year there were over 3,000 workers in the laboratory system.

The reactor Zero Energy Experimental Pile ( ZEEP ) was co-created in 1942 between British and Canadian researchers who had a research laboratory in Montreal as part of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC ) to the destination. On September 5, 1945, the first nuclear reactor was put into operation outside the United States. 1946 joined the NRC laboratory in Montreal and focused on the Chalk River facility. 1952, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited ( AECL ) was established by the government to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, which also took over the operation of the Chalk River Labs. Since 1950, several research reactors have been taken for the production of nuclear materials for medical and scientific applications in the operation of AECL. The Chalk River Labs are also the site of the nuclear power plant Rolphton, the first nuclear power plant in Canada, which went online in 1962; a partnership between AECL and the Hydro Electric Power Commission of Ontario. This reactor was a demonstration of the CANDU designs.

Reactors

The reactor ZEEP was 13 years after the discovery of the neutron in operation. The National Research Council of Canada wanted to gain knowledge on the nuclear fission process in the Chalk River Laboratories. ZEEP was a very simple construction of the nuclear reactor. A large empty tank with a pipe at the bottom formed the basis: a nearly three -meter-high vertical cylinder about two meters in diameter. In this tank, the fuel rods were installed, the uranium was stacked inside of aluminum tubes. The last required component was a moderator, which slows the fast neutrons. In ZEEP heavy water was chosen as moderator. Heavy water is about 10 % heavier than "normal" water and suitable as a moderator. Thus, the chain reaction of fission was started by adding heavy water was pumped through the conduit into the tank. The scientists used ZEEP to better understand how reactor cores work. It was a low-power experiment yielded less than 10 watts of heat.

Also, the NRX reactor, the most powerful research facility of its days, stands in the Chalk River Laboratories. ZEEP was used as a template for the design of the NRX reactor. The NRX was already under construction when ZEEP was completed. The NRX reactor was the main goal, as the Chalk River Laboratories were built in the mid -1940s. In the NRX reactor at December 12, 1952, a serious accident occurred.

The design of the NRU reactor was designed in 1949. In 1957, the NRU reactor was completed. He had 200 megawatts of power. The abbreviation NRU today as the name of the reactor used, although the reactor was originally called the National Research Universal reactor. The reactor is a multi-purpose reactor, having a capacity of 125 MW is used as a neutron source.

Others

On the site of the Canadian Neutron Beam also Centre ( NRC- CNBC) is located.

The nuclear power demonstration waste management facility in Rolphton, Ontario, which is owned by AECL, consists of a nuclear reactor ( Nuclear Power Demonstration ), which was in operation 1962-1987 and has since been shut down. Various non - nuclear facilities on site are now demolished. The radioactive parts can not be reprocessed or recycled and not as normal waste stored. Radioactive waste from the reactor were taken to a nuclear waste management facility in the Chalk River Laboratories.

Since its founding in 1944, the Chalk River Laboratories of the most contaminated nuclear site in Canada and threaten the drinking water supply for millions of Canadians, and the residents of the capital Ottawa. In addition to research activities, radioactive waste is disposed of, the largest inventory of radioactive waste in Canada is located in the Chalk River Laboratories. It includes both solid and liquid at low, intermediate and high level waste. During the first years of operation, radioactive waste were hand had carefree, so the site was radioactively contaminated. AECL announced that the cleaning of the Chalk River Laboratories in the next 300 years would cost an estimated 2.6 billion dollars. The Canadian government rejected AECL in the past 50 years to $ 17.5 billion to operate the program for research and the design of the CANDU reactors.

Data of the reactors

In the Chalk River Laboratories were or following reactors are operated or under construction: