Instrumentation woes delay Chalk River restart
29 July 2010
The return of Canada's isotope-producing NRU reactor is likely to be delayed by 10-15 days because of problems with a specific set of reactor instrumentation which was not responding as expected during fuel loading. The instrumentation, which is important for safe operation of the reactor, is now being replaced. According to the latest update from Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd (AECL), the first stage of fuel loading at the reactor has been completed and approximately 90% of over 3000 different restart activities necessary for the unit's return to service have been completed. However, the company had already warned that any unforeseen operational issues could push the return-to-service beyond the expected 31 July date.