Repairs remain ongoing at Chalk River labs

Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) reports that repairs to the NRU reactor vessel continue to progress at the Chalk River Laboratories. To date approximately 24 per cent of the planned repairs and Non Destructive Examinations (NDE) are complete.

Welders continue to perform reliability practice welds in order to qualify for the conduct of each specific weld required for the remainder of the vessel repair. Repair efforts will continue over the holiday period, with crews scheduled to work around the clock, seven days a week to carry out repairs to the NRU vessel.

The repair process, which spans multiple days for each repair site, requires many steps, including site preparation, weld build-up application and numerous inspections. Each repair site is unique in its structure and accessibility and is therefore subjected to a lengthy qualification and examination process.

Following each repair, NDE, including two types of ultrasonic inspection and an eddy-current inspection inside the vessel, are required in order to confirm the quality of the repair. The inspection process is then followed-up with laser profiling of the vessel surface that has been welded. The purpose of this profiling is to quantify the thickness of the weld and confirm if there has been any shape change in the vessel due to the welding process.