Atomic Energy of Canada (AECL) plans to shut down its National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River, Ontario, early this week to remove specialized instrumentation used in the facility's recent restart.
The shutdown, which will last for less than two days, will not interrupt the production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) isotopes. In an August 20 update, AECL noted that it also would use the time to conduct post-return-to-service testing.
AECL plans to have the reactor operate on a 28-day cycle, which will include a regularly scheduled five-day outage. During these outages, planned maintenance and other supporting operations activities will be completed.
In addition to the scheduled five-day outages, AECL has scheduled an extended outage of NRU for the second quarter of 2011 to conduct more extensive maintenance and inspection of the facility, fulfilling its obligation to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC).
Related Reading
AECL produces first Mo-99 batch, August 20, 2010
AECL producing Mo-99 again, August 18, 2010
AECL's NRU could restart next week, August 13, 2010
AECL progresses toward restart, August 5, 2010
AECL delays NRU restart to mid-August, July 30, 2010
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