Chalk River, June 16, 2011 - The following information bulletin is in accordance with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's (AECL) ongoing commitment to voluntary public disclosure of events related to the Chalk River Laboratories (CRL).
AECL reports that the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor has returned to operation from its planned extended outage.
Vessel inspection results to date confirm that there are no detectable changes to the vessel wall, no detectable corrosion, and that the inspected welds, applied during the 2010 repairs continue to be sound.
The NRU is currently operating at high power, producing medical isotopes and providing vital research and testing support to the science community, universities, and industry from across Canada and around the world.
The purpose of the outage, conducted over the past 32 days, was to perform maintenance and inspection work designed to enhance the reliability of NRU and to fulfill AECL’s commitment to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
This was the first annual planned extended outage for NRU. Planning and preparations for the outage began in March 2010 and continued up to the start of the outage on May 15. It was a complex endeavour, consuming over 25,000 hours of planning and execution. Contributions were made from over 120 individuals representing AECL’s skilled trades, technicians, engineers, radiation protection specialists, and project staff. In addition to AECL staff, 50 contract employees representing seven Canadian companies also contributed to the completion of the project.
During the outage, AECL completed over 1,400 work activities. Activities included preventative maintenance, inspections, and condition assessments as well as equipment repairs, upgrades, and replacements in priority areas critical to the safe and reliable operation of the NRU.
Inspection activities examined the five highest priority vessel sites, including three sites that were inaccessible prior to the development and use of first of a kind inspection tooling. While improving accessibility, the tooling also allowed the vessel to remain fuelled and filled with heavy water during inspections. Challenges experienced in the use of this new equipment provided AECL staff and contractors insights into equipment limitations and learning opportunities for use in future outages. Inspections and other activities not completed during this outage, such as lower level preventative maintenance, have been deferred to future scheduled short duration outages. New data gained during subsequent inspections will be analyzed and the results will be included in the NRU Fitness for Service report. The completed report will be issued to the CNSC by September 2011, fulfilling AECL’s regulatory requirements to inspect the NRU vessel, confirm vessel and repair conditions, and establish plans for required annual inspections.
More information on planned outage activities is available at NRUCanada.ca, including a video status update by AECL’s Manager NRU Extended Outage, Ted Moryto, and the NRU Extended Outage Operation Control Centre Section Head Phyllis Heeney.
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Contact:
Patrick Quinn
Manager, Site & Community Affairs
AECL, 1-866-886-2325