SNC-Lavalin's Candu Energy Inc has been selected to provide decommissioning services for the Slowpoke-2 research reactor, operated by the Saskatchewan Research Council at its Environmental Analytical Laboratories in Saskatoon.
The Safe Low-Power Kritical Experiment, or Slowpoke-2, research reactor was designed by Atomic Energy of Canada Limited in the 1960s and has been used to support nuclear education and research for 37 years. AECL's former Candu Reactor Division was sold to Candu Energy in 2011.
Specialised techniques that will be used for the Slowpoke reactor decommissioning can be applied to the global market to increase certainty in schedule, cost and outcome, SNC-Lavalin said.
“We have successfully decommissioned similar reactors at Dalhousie University and the University of Alberta in recent years," said Sandy Taylor, president of nuclear at SNC-Lavalin. "Our track record speaks to our commitment to the Saskatchewan Research Council that its Slowpoke-2 reactor will be safely retired in the most environmentally responsible manner.”
Decommissioning of a Slowpoke reactor was completed by AECL at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 2011. SNC-Lavalin SNC-Lavalin was awarded a contract to decommission Slowpoke unit at the University of Alberta in April 2016, and the project was completed last year. Similar reactors are in operation at the Royal Military College of Canada and the École Polytechnique de Montréal.
Photo: Source CNCS
