Chalk River, Ontario –Cheryl Gallant, MP Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke was pleased recently to welcome Federal Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver to the Chalk River Laboratories of Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL).
“I am pleased that Minister Oliver responded favourably to my open invitation to tour the Chalk River laboratories to witness first-hand the work that is being done,” stated MP Cheryl Gallant.
“We toured the Biological Research Facility, the only place in Canada that studies the effects of low dose radiation. For example, when power utility workers receive low-dose exposure AECL scientists assist with monitoring the level of exposure to determine the appropriate safety response should that be necessary. An international project was recently undertaken for NATO relating to a potential dirty bomb blast and the medical treatment required if that should prove necessary based on the level of exposure.”
“Next we visited the Thermal hydraulics lab, which has a scaled down version of a CANDU reactor, which is used for safety test simulations. Local Renfrew company ETM is adding a new dimension to this simulation model which is unique to the world,” observed Gallant, MP. ETM is demonstrating that there are applications beyond the nuclear sector, in this case the oil and gas sector, which translates into jobs in the Ontario economy. It is the application of the basic research at Chalk River Laboratories, creating jobs in the economy, which is the purpose behind our Government’s current efforts to re-structure 60 year old Crown Corporation.”
“We toured the National Research Council’s Neutron Beam Centre of the National Research Universal Reactor (NRU) where Dr. Daniel Banks explained how the aerospace, auto, and oil industries rely upon this facility to analyze materials to detect failures in their internal structure that could have catastrophic consequences. “Pieces of the space shuttle that exploded in mid -flight were sent to this facility for analysis,” remarked MP Cheryl Gallant.
“I believe this visit was successful in demonstrating to Minister Oliver that in addition to AECL’s long held contributions to medicine and energy generation, the people who work at Chalk River Laboratories provide key scientific information to government decision makers for national security, and are a significant national asset. Most importantly, it was demonstrated that Chalk River laboratories is up to the task of utilizing innovation to develop scientific discoveries beyond the lab to practical applications and commercialization, which means jobs for Canadians!” concluded Cheryl Gallant, MP.
| For Additional Photos: Cheryl and Minister Oliver At Chalk River Laboratories |
| For Additional Photos: Cheryl delivers submissions on AECL to Minister Oliver |
| For Additional Photos: Cheryl visits with Tyne Engineer at Hydrogen Lab |
| For Additional Video: Cheryl informs the House of Commons on AECL’s work with Helium-3 |
| For Additional Video: Cheryl informs the House of Commons on AECL’s work with Hydrogen detectors |
| For Additional Tweets: #supportCRL |
