Delivering on our Commitment to Restart

On August 17, 2010, the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s (AECL) Chalk River Laboratories was safely returned to operation.  All of the operating systems are now in service and the NRU is once again harvesting medical isotopes.

AECL’s employees, with guidance and assistance from outside advisors, have delivered on their commitment to safely return the NRU to service.  Everyone involved in this challenge has managed the project to the highest technical and professional standards and as a result, the NRU is now ready to continue reliable operations for years to come. 

With the repair complete and several additional enhancements made to the reactor during the outage, NRU can now return to its regular operating schedule.  This means the reactor will run at high-power for 23 straight days and then go into a planned five day shutdown.  The planned shutdown allows AECL to perform routine scheduled maintenance on the reactor over the five day period.  The NRU is then returned to high power and the 28 day cycle starts all over again.  This scheduled maintenance and inspection program will ensure that the NRU remains fully operational and meets its regulatory obligations.

In addition to isotope production for medical purposes, the NRU is the main research reactor providing materials and radio-chemistry testing for the Canadian nuclear industry.  It also produces neutrons for the National Research Council, an organization that is on-site at Chalk River Laboratories to perform neutron scattering experiments. 

It was these contributions to the Canadian nuclear industry and the global medical and scientific communities that drove AECL’s commitment to returning the NRU to service.  With immense pride, AECL’s employees will continue to operate the NRU to the best of their abilities.