CONTACT

A journey started page 2

Environmental Stewardship Council visits CNL page 4

What the future holds for the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories page 3

Excellence recognized page 5

Giving back page 6

C h a l k R i v e r, O n t a r i o

Winter 2014 • Volume 8, Issue 3w w w. c n l . c a

This is the first time I am addressing you under the banner of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. On November 3, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) proudly launched a wholly-owned subsidiary named Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL).

This is a major milestone in the restructuring of AECL that will ultimately revitalize Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organization. Organizations evolve and change to be successful. AECL has been an active participant in a restructuring process, which the Government of Canada initiated in 2009. This process will establish the conditions for Canada’s nuclear industry to succeed, and over time reduce costs and financial risks to taxpayers. The final result will be a Government-Owned Contractor-Operated (GoCo) organization. Throughout the restructuring process the Government has acknowledged that there is important work in both science and technology (S&T), and decommissioning and waste management that will continue over the long term.

Although CNL is a new company, it stands on the shoulders of a company with a proud history built over six decades of cutting edge nuclear science and technology. Our business under the new CNL moniker will essentially remain the same, except with greater opportunities for investment and growth.

The creation of CNL as a wholly-owned subsidiary of AECL represents an important step for the evolution of the organization, which will eventually be owned by a GoCo contractor. AECL will remain a small Crown corporation focused on the management and oversight of this contract. The GoCo contractor is expected to be selected in 2015 by the Government of Canada.

So what is CNL’s mission going forward? The Government has committed to addressing the legacy liabilities from the development of our nuclear technology and has given CNL a clear mandate to do so.

Our decommissioning and waste management (DWM) business is a product of this obligation. It is important, high-technology work requiring skilled employees. Simply put, the DWM field is big business for CNL, nationally and internationally. This field represents great opportunities for technology development and innovation to successfully complete the needed work.

The Government has also decided that CNL will have a strong S&T mission serving both the Government and industry. There is an ongoing need for CNL to provide S&T work towards supporting core government roles and responsibilities and as well as providing S&T services to industry on a commercial basis.

To provide services to all three missions is an exciting path forward for the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.

What does a successful restructuring of the organization into the GoCo model mean for CNL? Exciting work, modern facilities and a clear vision. These are essential ingredients to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce over the decades to come. The GoCo model has been proven in other jurisdictions to excel in this regard and we have the

opportunity to make it work here in Canada.

As restructuring progresses, CNL will carry on advancing our important nuclear safety and security, and science and technology work with a business-as-usual outlook. Ensuring that CNL continues to have safe and secure operations and remains responsible stewards of the environment is of utmost priority to me and the employees of CNL. Going forward, there are always some risks and uncertainties with change, however the stage is set for Canada’s national nuclear laboratory to succeed right here in the Ottawa Valley.

Bob WalkerPresident and CEO

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories starts its journey

Exciting work, modern facilities and a clear vision. These are essential ingredients to attract and retain a highly skilled workforce over the decades to come.

The name Canadian Nuclear Laboratories may be new, but the history under the former name remains the same. CNL has had 60-plus years of achievements in nuclear science, technology and research. The Government of Canada and CNL are both committed to ensuring that the success of the last six decades is repeated in the future.

To do so, the Government of Canada continues to invest in CNL by putting shovels in the ground, building new facilities and updating infrastructure. This is all part of the Infrastructure Renewal Plan for the laboratories, with $82 million allocated to the plan by the Government for the current fiscal year.

The Infrastructure Renewal Plan describes the strategy by which infrastructure revitalization and retention will support the missions of the laboratories. Infrastructure renewal at the Chalk River site is about enhancing the integration and performance of CNL`s unique world class facilities. Each facility’s capabilities are improved by their proximity to the other laboratories

on site. The plan focuses on the development of modern science and technology laboratories that promote partnerships, innovation, and sustainability. It also builds on existing infrastructure, and focuses on new capital investments which achieve maximum impact.

Not only do these funds go into the renewal and development of CNL but also towards business interactions with local companies, who in turn provide needed goods and services to CNL. Since 2012, CNL has put over $43 million directly back into the Ottawa Valley economy through local infrastructure suppliers.

The Infrastructure Renewal Plan ensures

that CNL will continue to maintain the ability to realize its missions going forward; meeting the needs of Federal Departments, customers, stakeholders and identifying and developing new business opportunities.

Architectural drawing of Building 350, currently under construction at the Chalk River site.

CNL - Building for the future

New Practical Training Facility OpensThis year, through Canadian Nuclear Laboratories' Infrastructure Renewal Plan, an outdated and underused building at the Chalk River site has been repurposed and upgraded into the new training home for the Radiation Protection, Human Performance and Occupational Safety and Health programs.

“As the Health, Safety, Security & Environment (HSSE) program enables world-class safety performance through education, tools and expertise, the new Practical Training Facility was designed with Dynamic Learning Activities (DLA) in mind,” said Kathy Smith, General Manager of HSSE. “DLAs are known to be very effective in establishing desired behaviours of work performance and this new facility is aligned with industry best practices and provides the area to create real learning opportunities."

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories’ Environmental Stewardship Council (ESC) has been meeting three times a year since 2006. The objective of the ESC is to build working relationships and create opportunities for open dialogue between various community stakeholders and CNL. These conversations are integral in providing

us with a wide range of community viewpoints.

“Council members bring a strong perspective of community information needs to the table and in doing so, help sensitize the site leaders to improve their interactions with different local stakeholders," stated John Vincette, external facilitator for the Environmental Stewardship Council.

Meetings consist of a full day of presentations from various departments of CNL. Feedback is then solicited to ensure that our operations and how we run our environmental protection program is in line with what the local community expects from Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organization. Of the three meetings, two are held in the community and once a year, the ESC

is invited to visit the laboratories to witness, in person, some of the projects they have been learning about.

On October 16, the ESC arrived at CNL’s Chalk River site eager to tour. The meeting was focusing on environmental remediation and the science and standards by which CNL

makes decisions on remediation activities around its legacy liabilities. The council was presented with current projects that help outline the rigour and dedication of this process. After a morning of presentations, the group received a driven tour of the built up portion of the Chalk River site to view projects and plans for decommissioning of various facilities over approximately the next decade.

Joan Miller, Vice-President of Decommissioning and Waste Management said, “Having the meeting at the Chalk River site provides ESC members an opportunity to experience firsthand the day to day operations of CNL. We are very fortunate to have such an engaged group of individuals, providing us with their valuable feedback.”

Environmental Stewardship Council visits CRL

The Membership

19 Stakeholder Groups 10 Canadian Nuclear Laboratories Staff1 Facilitator1 Observer – Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

External Stakeholders

• Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn

• City of Pembroke• Concerned Citizens of

Renfrew County• Deep River Horticultural

Society• Four Seasons

Conservancy• Garrison Petawawa• Métis Nation of Ontario,

North Bay• Municipalité régionale de

comté de Pontiac • Old Fort William

Cottagers’ Association• Ontario Ministry of

Natural Resources, Pembroke

• Ottawa Riverkeeper • Parkline Sportsmen Club• Pembroke Area Field

Naturalists• Petawawa Research

Forest• Renfrew County Council• Town of Deep River• Town of Laurentian Hills• Town of Petawawa• Upper Ottawa Valley

Ducks Unlimited

Back Row lt to rt: Pat Quinn, John McKay, Craig Robinson, John Vincentt, John MuffFront Row lt to rt: James Gibson, Steve Gutzman, Christian Carrier, Theresa Sabourin, Bruce Bigham

Safety, execution and innovation are integral to the success of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. The annual Awards of Excellence recognizes employees whose behaviours and accomplishments demonstrate these aspects and in doing so, help CNL deliver on its promise as Canada’s premier nuclear science and technology organization. On October 30, this occasion was tremendously significant for CNL, in that it thanked and gave appreciation to our employees who have gone to extraordinary lengths in their fields; ensuring CNL's continued industry success.

There are two awards employees can be peer nominated for:

The D.F. Torgerson Discovery Award for the generation or execution of innovative ideas / solutions, significant research or technical achievements, and new business initiatives.

The Distinguished Merit Award for exceptional contributions in productivity improvements, achievements of increased revenue, decreased operating costs, safety, innovation and / or environmental initiatives, development or strengthening of partnerships, or exploitation of results. This year there were 13 groups comprising of 54 people who earned one of these honours.

The D.F. Torgerson Discovery Award was awarded to:

Marc Bouchard, Pat Charette, Howie Jessup, Paul Joynes, Dave Poff, Paul Rochefort, and Rick Roiha for the design of the Fuel Channel Annulus Spacer Endurance Test Rig to measure the endurance limit of ex-service annulus spacers.

Norman Lair, Blake Mitchell, Thambiayah Nitheanandan, and Justin Spencer for their work on the in-vessel molten-core retention proven for Enhanced CANDU® 6 (EC6) reactors.

Danila Roubtsov for his novel use of molecular dynamics to accurately predict neutron scattering in heavy water.

The Distinguished Merit Award was awarded to:

Kyle Baker, Robert DeAbreu, Stephen Donohue, Kris Dunn, and Karl Soopalu for their innovative use of NRU’s irradiation capabilities to support Darlington refurbishment.

Tom Shultz, Marina Totland and Rob Turgeon for their international recognition of CNL’s Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry (TIMS) expertise.

Zhong Cheng, Armando Nava-Dominguez, Yanfei Rao, and Geoffrey Waddington for the innovative application of sub-channel thermalhydraulic analysis to nuclear licensing applications.

Laura Blomeley, Blair Bromley, Ruxandra Dranga, JingJing Wang, and Bruce Wilkin for their innovative application of Monte-Carlo modeling for analyzing postulated criticality accidents.

Marc Audet, Matt Bond, Jamie Carr, Adrienne Ethier, David Lee, Jennifer Olfert, Nick Priest, David Rowan, Renee Silke, and Marilyne Stuart for their innovative approaches to human health and ecological risk assessments in support of the Ottawa Riverbed Remediation Project.

Shahina Kurien for her leadership in the development of a fully comprehensive Fire Program at CNL.

Jerry Albrecht, Steve Bemis, Shawn Bergeron, Jeff Chapin, Graham Kent, Todd Lesperance, Mike Lewis, Virgil Paquette, Andrew Presswood, and Nic Prud’homme for their strong multi-disciplinary teamwork and innovation to significantly improve the reliability of control rods used in the NRU reactor.

Awards of Excellence

Continued on page 6

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Toll Free: 1-800-364-6989Fax: 613-584-8272communications@cnl.cawww.cnl.ca

CONTACT is a publication of CNL’s Corporate Communications department.

Throughout the fall every year, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories hosts a variety of activities at its major sites across Canada in support of the United Way. Whiteshell Laboratories in Manitoba and the Port Hope Area Initiative in Port Hope have already held their campaigns with great success. It is now the Chalk River sites' turn to host a week full of fun with proceeds being distributed locally through the Renfrew County United Way. With a goal of $125,000 the Chalk River site hopes to cross the $1 million mark in total funds raised over the last decade for local charities in the Ottawa Valley.

Kevin Holm and Stef Portmann for their leadership and development of an implementation plan to improve electrical safety across the CNL site.

Jérôme Besner for his improved modeling of cost to manage radioactive waste at the Chalk River site.

Jeff Harding for his commitment to supporting efficiency and meeting Whiteshell Laboratories (WL) site level deadlines and commitments regarding CNL restructuring, WL strategic planning and WL liability cost estimate updates and audits.

Congratulations to CNL’s 12-person team, which included President, Bob Walker and Vice-President of Business Development and Commercial Ventures, Carl Marcotte, who won first place at the Renfrew County United Way Bus Pull hosted by New Flyer Industries in Arnprior on October 8. Competing against seven teams from across the Ottawa Valley, CNL took home the trophy after pulling a 40-foot city bus over 60 feet, with an impressive time of 11.52 seconds.

Thank you to the CNL employees who participated and donated to this exciting fundraiser supporting the Renfrew County United Way.

The Flying A's take gold at United Way bus pull!

Giving back to the community

Awards, continued from page 4

Decommissioning is the process of stopping the operation and then taking apart a nuclear or non-nuclear facility. This process generally follows four phases.

Stage 1 — Planning for decommissioning.

Stage 2 — Preparation for decommissioning.

Stage 3 — Execution of decommissioning. Stage 4 — Completion of decommissioning.

For more information please see: www.nuclearlegacyprogram.ca

What is decommissioning and what stages do you follow to decommission a nuclear site?