The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) this week received a recommendation that Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) be granted an operating permit for its National Research Universal (NRU) reactor for the next five years.
According to an October 4 report on Canada.com, CNSC staff endorsed NRU's license renewal with certain conditions for the 53-year-old Chalk River, Ontario, reactor, which produces approximately half of the molybdenum-99 supply for North America. NRU's operating license expires at the end of this month.
One condition is that the AECL move to a formal management system that would require the entity to address safety issues. AECL also must address aging infrastructure and weaknesses in maintenance programs that have resulted in a number of radioactive leaks.
The commission staff gave AECL satisfactory grades for the Chalk River site's operations, according to the report, but the agency has not fully inspected repair welds in the NRU containment vessel.
Randy Lesco, AECL's vice president of operations and chief nuclear officer, told the panel another extended shutdown is scheduled for the reactor in April 2012 to inspect some of the welds. The shutdown could last approximately 30 days.
