Chalk River and the NRU
In stores selling used books, I have often picked up old copies of
"The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress"
which was put out by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics in Canada each year ...
"The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress"
which was put out by the Dominion Bureau of Statistics in Canada each year ...
Today, in 2009, we are hearing more and more about Canadian shortages of radioactive isotopes needed for medical imaging tests and treatments.
Politicians generally have no idea of the 'making do' which
already takes place in hospitals every day.
Ministers of the Crown stand up and say there are substitute isotopes ... there are other tests ... that health care professionals are meeting the challenge thanks to the 'close contact' maintained by the minister ... really their staff ... via the bureaucrats ... contacting people ten layers above the front line staff.
Politicians have no idea about the realities of health care
and the efforts most health care workers will make to support the patients.
and the efforts most health care workers will make to support the patients.
A big political issue in Canada
during the last couple of years has been "The NRU at Chalk River".
Visiting reporters laugh at the quaintness of its analog dials and
suggest it is a rickety primitive unsafe old thing. Its failure is seen as the failure of Canada
to provide a large quantity of medical isotopes to the rest of the
world. Political parties take shots at each others' failure to spend
money on Chalk River, to ensure nuclear safety, to provide the health
care system with materials it must have. Medical tests are cancelled.
As I picked up old copies of "The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress" I saw many references to Chalk River and the NRU (the National Research Universal ... Reactor) ... among references to our other reactors and nuclear research sites. Canada was once a world leader in nuclear technology. I thought it would be interesting to string together some of the 50 year old nuclear technology accounts from these books to present an 'original source' for readers.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s our nuclear technology was a source of pride for most Canadians because of the type of government accounts you will read here.
In elementary school in the 1960s I remember a story in one of our readers about a nuclear accident at Chalk River and the heroic actions of scientists and the military to deal with the crisis.
But later in high school we learned that CANDU (uranium fuel, deuterium moderation) reactors "can't" melt down 'because the coolant is also the moderator'. A university-aged employee of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited gave a small presentation to some of us in the resource centre of our school and told us what a great summer job he had. CANDUs were safe ... and it was even safe to sterilize strawberries with radiation ... REALLY ... they didn't undergo any chemical change whatsoever ... they were perfectly safe!! ... Well ... OK ... why do we think they wouldn't be?!
Yet nothing is resolved in spite of our politicians' usual 'best efforts' on 'our behalf'.
As I picked up old copies of "The Official Handbook of Present Conditions and Recent Progress" I saw many references to Chalk River and the NRU (the National Research Universal ... Reactor) ... among references to our other reactors and nuclear research sites. Canada was once a world leader in nuclear technology. I thought it would be interesting to string together some of the 50 year old nuclear technology accounts from these books to present an 'original source' for readers.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s our nuclear technology was a source of pride for most Canadians because of the type of government accounts you will read here.
In elementary school in the 1960s I remember a story in one of our readers about a nuclear accident at Chalk River and the heroic actions of scientists and the military to deal with the crisis.
But later in high school we learned that CANDU (uranium fuel, deuterium moderation) reactors "can't" melt down 'because the coolant is also the moderator'. A university-aged employee of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited gave a small presentation to some of us in the resource centre of our school and told us what a great summer job he had. CANDUs were safe ... and it was even safe to sterilize strawberries with radiation ... REALLY ... they didn't undergo any chemical change whatsoever ... they were perfectly safe!! ... Well ... OK ... why do we think they wouldn't be?!
By the 1970s, I guess some of us were a little less accepting of everything we were told by the nuclear industry.
The AECL kid had drunk the 'strawberry' Kool Aid.
The Nuclear Society of Tomorrow with 'electricity too cheap to meter' hadn't come to pass.
The Canadian industry was starting to get desperate if it saw its future in strawberries.
Later, they irradiated golf balls for the prime ministers who subsidized them ...
Harder - the balls could be driven farther.
... how far we had 'progresssed' ...
"Where peacetime uses of atomic energy are explored"
"At Chalk River, Ontario, the Canadian Government maintains a pilot plant that produces materials for the release of atomic power.
No war weapons are produced here; scientists are studying possible ways in which the atom's energy can make man's life easier and better.
Workers at the plant live in the near-by town of Deep River, built for them by the Government."
Smudged photo from 'Lands and Peoples', Grolier Society, circa 1950.
The AECL kid had drunk the 'strawberry' Kool Aid.
The Nuclear Society of Tomorrow with 'electricity too cheap to meter' hadn't come to pass.
The Canadian industry was starting to get desperate if it saw its future in strawberries.
Later, they irradiated golf balls for the prime ministers who subsidized them ...
Harder - the balls could be driven farther.
... how far we had 'progresssed' ...
"Where peacetime uses of atomic energy are explored"
"At Chalk River, Ontario, the Canadian Government maintains a pilot plant that produces materials for the release of atomic power.
No war weapons are produced here; scientists are studying possible ways in which the atom's energy can make man's life easier and better.
Workers at the plant live in the near-by town of Deep River, built for them by the Government."
Smudged photo from 'Lands and Peoples', Grolier Society, circa 1950.
Canada's sexy nuclear technology was once a source of great national pride.
We helped provide Atoms for Peace to poor countries !
We were conducting research on the very nature of matter itself !
We led the world in peaceful nuclear technology !
We helped provide Atoms for Peace to poor countries !
We were conducting research on the very nature of matter itself !
We led the world in peaceful nuclear technology !
It is easy to identify the two extremes when one is reading old books for additional information ...
People with lucrative jobs within the industry ... who spin away any problems the public perceives :
'We must keep these [i.e. our own] high-paying, high-technology jobs in Canada!'
versus
People who focus on the dangers linked to all nuclear waste and nuclear weapons :
'We should get out of this field entirely - 'they' are downplaying the grave risk!'
'We must keep these [i.e. our own] high-paying, high-technology jobs in Canada!'
versus
People who focus on the dangers linked to all nuclear waste and nuclear weapons :
'We should get out of this field entirely - 'they' are downplaying the grave risk!'
But judging from the Canada Handbooks ...
nuclear development was 'as Canadian as' ...
The transcontinental railways.
Pearson and peacekeeping.
Combines on the Prairies.
The Stratford Festival.
The Group of Seven.
The Atlantic fishery.
So here is ... an integral part of Canadian history.
nuclear development was 'as Canadian as' ...
The transcontinental railways.
Pearson and peacekeeping.
Combines on the Prairies.
The Stratford Festival.
The Group of Seven.
The Atlantic fishery.
So here is ... an integral part of Canadian history.
Swimming Pool Reactor
Just a quick introduction to old reactor design ...
At the bottom of the swimming pool ...
Elements of refined fissionable fuel are placed together to form a 'critical mass'.
The engineering goal is a safe, controlled, stoppable chain reaction producing heat and radiation.
The engineering trick here is to get lots of neutrons 'hitting' other uranium nuclei with just the right energy.
A moderator (e.g. graphite) is used to 'manage' the neutrons so they are absorbed by other U-235 nuclei.
Then these unstable nuclei break up ... with the radioactive pieces contributing to the chain reaction.
Above the water's surface a crane lifts or lowers
fuel rods or control rods.
Effectively, the 'accelerator' or 'brake' on the reaction.
Here is the uranium fuel again.
'2' is one of the control rods between the fuel rods.
At the port '4', they are putting target elements in the 'oven' to cook up as radioactive isotopes.
The extra neutrons of the reaction ... enter the 'targets', making their nuclei unstable ... bingo ... radioactive isotopes !
The guy at the top right is at the 'control panel' ... usually away in a shielded control room.
He is controlling the reaction by monitoring the outputs, temperatures, and moving rods around.
If you were running this reactor for electricity ...
outside the reactor room ...
hot coolant would pass through heat exchangers ...
transferring the heat to a piping system filled with normal water ...
the normal water steam would spin steam turbines.
With 'Canadian reactors'
heavy water carries the heat from the core (the coolant) ...
heavy water is the moderator which affects neutron energy ...
'control rods' are also used to control or stop the reaction.
The control rods have multiple backup systems to operate them in emergencies.
Typically these are activated when their circuits are de-energized ...
e.g. a reactor electrical failure shuts down the reaction.
If necessary, a reaction could also be stopped by replacing heavy water with water.
The neutrons would then have too much energy
to successfully 'stick' to other nuclei to continue the chain reaction.
1964
The flask is the tall vertical tube above the swimming pool's lid.
Looks great !
What can go wrong?
Unforeseen design flaws.
Operator errors, confusing procedures.
Experiment 'surprises'.
Mechanical failure which damages the core or fuel rods.
Cooling pump or cooling system failure.
Pressure leaks of radioactive coolant and/or gases.
From 1960...
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