Chalk River Laboratories
Chalk River Laboratories (French: Laboratoires de Chalk River; also known as CRL, Chalk River Labs and formerly Chalk River Nuclear Laboratories, CRNL) is a Canadian nuclear research facility in Deep River, about 180 km (110 mi) north-west of Ottawa.
Chalk River Laboratories seen from the Ottawa River | |
| Established | 1944 |
|---|---|
| Research type | Applied |
Field of research | Nuclear physics |
| Address | 286 Plant Road |
| Location | Deep River, Ontario, Canada 46.050242°N 77.361002°W |
| Campus | 3,700 ha (9,100 acres) |
| Affiliations | Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Canadian Nuclear Laboratories |
Operating agency | Canadian National Energy Alliance |
| 2 | |
CRL is a site of major research and development to support and advance nuclear technology, particularly CANDU reactor technology. CRL has expertise in physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and engineering, and hosts unique research facilities. For example, Bertram Brockhouse, a professor at McMaster University, received the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pioneering work in neutron spectroscopy while at CRL from 1950 to 1962. Sir John Cockcroft was an early director of CRL and also a Nobel laureate. Until the shutdown of its nuclear reactor in 2018, CRL produced a large share of the world's supply of medical radioisotopes. It is owned by the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories subsidiary of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and operated under contract by the Canadian National Energy Alliance, a private-sector consortium led by AtkinsRéalis.