On Friday, the Government of Canada announced that Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) will operate the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor until March 31, 2018, subject to relicensing. “At the conclusion of this period, the reactor will be placed in a state of storage with surveillance until decommissioning,” said Bob Walker, President and CEO of CNL.
In response to this announcement, CNL has communicated that it is conducting an assessment of the business case for a new neutron source and is planning for a ‘neutron gap’. It further plans to take full advantage of the remaining three years of NRU operations to maximize benefit from the reactor, and will continue operating the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre (CNBC). It is expected that the CNBC will continue to offer access to neutron beams to the user community, to maximum extent possible through March 2018.
CINS is monitoring developments and will communicate with members as more details become available.
– Professor Chris Wiebe, CINS President