Concern in Deep River, but new opportunities seen in years ahead

Deep River Mayor Joan Lougheed says the federal government’s decision to shutter the nuclear reactor that put her town on the map is troubling and short-sighted.

“We still have a large number of citizens who are employed there so whenever there’s change, there’s always concern,” the mayor said in an interview Monday.

“There’s a lot of interest in what’s going on there — and what the future will bring.”

Deep River, which is now celebrating the 70th anniversary of its founding, was purpose-built in the mid-1940s to accommodate the scientists and technicians hired to work in Canada’s top nuclear research laboratory.

The federal government confirmed Monday that the nuclear reactor at the heart of those research labs — which came online in 1957 — will be permanently shut down in three years. The National Research Universal reactor (NRU), which now produces medical isotopes and supports nuclear research, will cease operations on March 31, 2018.

Lougheed said the town is preparing for the shutdown while at the same time lobbying the federal government to change its mind.

Deep River has joined with Renfrew County council to hire a lobbyist to press its case with federal officials.

They want the government to keep the reactor active while building a new one.

“There’s a joint effort to lobby the government about the importance of the reactor — both historically and for the future of nuclear research,” Lougheed said. “We’re hoping the effort creates awareness about how important the facility is.”

The Chalk River nuclear reactor is operated by Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL), a subsidiary of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL), a Crown corporation.

In a news release, CNL president Bob Walker said that while the reactor is a big part of the program at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, it is not the only part: the reactor supports about one-third of the organization’s work.

What’s more, he said, the reactor will require its existing workforce for the next five years as it’s monitored and then decommissioned. “New opportunities are expected to present themselves over the years ahead. We will be actively working to retain, retrain and redeploy those staff eventually affected by the shutdown of the NRU (reactor)."

Later this year, the federal government is expected to name the private sector firm that has won the contract to manage all of the former AECL sites now under CNL control.

Lougheed said the private firm, when it takes over management of the research facility in Chalk River, may be open to a new approach.

“There could be a change in decision-making once the government-private company partnership is implemented,” Lougheed said. “There may be a will under that management model to go back in the direction of maintaining the reactor or starting to build a new one.”

Lougheed said the shutdown of the nuclear reactor is expected to affect 300 people who work at CNL’s Chalk River Laboratories, which employs about 3,000.

Maintaining the aging nuclear reactor has become an expensive proposition.

According to the federal government, taxpayers will have spent more than $460 million to keep the reactor in service and operating safely between 2008 and 2016.