Chalk River

Image: Chalk River Laboratories
Source: AECL

Latest updates

2011

• October 27, 2011: CNSC Announces Decision to Renew the Operating Licence for the AECL Chalk River Laboratories for a 5 year period
  
  
• October 6, 2011: AECL clarifies statements made in the Ottawa Citizen today regarding the Chalk River Laboratories (source: AECL Web site) 
  
  
• August 17 to August 25 2011: AECL Updates on Planned Short Duration Outages (source: AECL Web site)
  
  
• July 19 to July 28 2011:  AECL Updates on Planned Short Duration Outages (source: AECL Web site)
  

• June 2, 2011:
  • AECL NRU Status Report of a planned outage (source: AECL Web site)
  • Other updates for the May outage (source: AECL Web site)


• May 12, 2011: Chalk River Information Bulletin - AECL provides update on NRU Planned Outage Activities (Source:  AECL Web site)


• April 26, 2011: Decommissioning of a plutonium tower facility at Chalk River Laboratories: Request for Public Comment – Draft Environmental Assessment Screening Report (PDF)
  
  
• April 19, 2011: Update to regulatory action issued to all Class I facilities and uranium mines and mills in Canada
  
  
• April 12, 2011: Update to regulatory action issued to all major nuclear facilities in Canada
  
  
• April 5, 2011:
  
  

  • Notice - Atomic Energy of Canada Limited - Application for the renewal of the operating licence for the Chalk River Laboratories (PDF)

• Notice - Atomic Energy of Canada Limited - Application to amend the operating licences for the Chalk River Laboratories and the Dedicated Isotope Facilities (administrative changes) (PDF)
  
  
• March 22, 2011: CNSC request to all Class I nuclear facilities and uranium mines and mills in Canada pursuant to subsection 12(2) of the General Nuclear Safety and Control Regulations
  
  
• March 19, 2011: Seismic activity near Chalk River Laboratories
  
  
• March 17, 2011: CNSC Request to all major nuclear facilities in Canada pursuant to Subsection 12(2) of the General Nuclear Safety and Control Regulations
  
  
• March 16, 2011: Temporary Elevation of Effluent Tritium Levels at Chalk River Labs - On March 14, 2011 Atomic Energy of Canada Limited notified the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) that slightly elevated levels of tritium in samples of process water effluent had been discovered. The tritium was from a leak in a heat exchanger and was not related to the reactor cooling system. The heat exchanger was isolated and tritium levels were back to normal within 12 hours.

  No dose consequence has been attributed to this event, and the radiological risk to the environment, workers and public health is negligible. The CNSC continues to monitor the situation.

  • Read AECL's Information Bulletins

2010

• November 29, 2010: The CNSC invites you to provide comments on the draft environmental assessment Screening Report concerning the National Research Universal Reactor Long-term Management Project

Find out more

• Letters: Read letters to the CNSC about nuclear facilities in Chalk River and CNSC responses.
• Commission Tribunal information: Read recent Commission Tribunal transcripts and Records of Decision from Hearings and Meetings related to facilities in the Chalk River area.
• National Research Universal reactor events- 2007 to 2010: Read about the shutdown and the restart of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited’s National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario.

About Chalk River

With a population of 800 people, Chalk River is one of the five small communities in the Upper Ottawa Valley that together form the Municipality of Laurentian Hills.

Farmers and lumbermen first settled in the area in the mid 1800s, to be joined later by travellers on the Canadian Pacific Railway. Agriculture, forestry and the railroad continued to be the principal industries in the Chalk River area until the 1940s. Today, the nuclear industry is the area's largest employer.

At a glance:  Chalk River Laboratories and the National Research Universal reactor

Location: Chalk River, Ontario

Owned and operated by: Atomic Energy of Canada Limited

Purpose of facility: research related to CANDU reactors and the nuclear industry

Year commissioned: operations began in 1944; the National Research Universal reactor came online in 1957, focusing on the production of medical isotopes and neutron research

Read more about Chalk River Laboratories and National Research Universal reactor.

Other information about Chalk River

Find out about Environmental Assessments in Chalk River.