Saskatchewan makes strategic investments in nuclear research capabilities

New research centre and cyclotron

Key strategic investments in nuclear research are reinforcing Saskatchewan's bid to re-establish the province as a lead in nuclear science and engineering. In recent weeks, $65 million in provincial, federal and academic sources have been committed to bolster research and training capacity in health sciences, material and neutron sciences and nuclear science and engineering for small reactor development.

The investments have been years in the making and follow the 2009 release of a report by the 12-person Uranium Development Partnership (UDP) which received $3 million in provincial funding to advise on how to add the most value stemming from Saskatchewan's vast uranium resources. A key prize would be the province's selection by the federal government as the site for a new Canadian Neutron Source (CNS) reactor for materials research.

"It's been a whirlwind over the past few weeks … With governments, it's hurry up and wait and then it happens," says Jim Basinger, the Univ of Saskatchewan's associate VP research. "The province has a long-term vision and we've been working on these initiatives for some time … We produce uranium but we don't really do anything with it. Value-add is essential."

In early March, Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall announced $30 million over seven years to establish an Institute for Nuclear Studies or a Centre for Nuclear Research in Medicine and Materials. To be located at the Univ of Saskatchewan, the centre augments existing nuclear research infrastructure, including the Canadian Light Source (CLS) and two smaller reactors — the Saskatchewan Research Council's SLOPOKE research reactor and the university's STORM Tokamak fusion reactor.

"There's an opportunity through the centre to bring on key faculty in several disciplines for new research and training programs. There's a strong industry interest from companies like Hitachi which has an MOU under development with the province," says Basinger. "The province has been reluctant to pursue nuclear in the past for a variety of reasons but this has changed. They want to take ownership of the whole cycle."

The provincial government is funding the centre using money that was originally allocated for the $270 million Saskat-chewan-Montana carbon capture and storage project which was quietly shelved last fall when federal funding from the Canadian and US governments did not materialize.

new cyclotron for PET-CT imaging

Also in early March, $17 million in funding was secured for a research cyclotron — $10 million from the province and $7 million from the federal government. The cyclotron will be used to generate radioactive isotopes used in positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) scans, as part of the province's new PET-CT medical imaging program. It will also be used to produce single photon emission computerized tomography, used in the majority of provincial medical imaging procedures.

"Nuclear medicine and health sciences fit with the cyclotron development and medical isotope production and use," says Basinger. "The technologies are very advanced and require specialized HQP (highly qualified personnel). You have to build expertise to move ahead."

The new cyclotron is augmented by a $6-million investment in a PET-CT scanner, with $4 million coming from the province and $2 million from the Royal University Hospital Foundation in Saskatoon. The scanner will be purchased during the cyclotron's design phase with the whole project slated for completion in two years.

Closely linked to the new cyclotron is the CLS's success in the recent competition for Natural Resources Canada's Non-reactor-based Isotope Supply Contribution Program. The CLS was one of four successful proposals to demonstrate new technologies for the production of medical isotopes (Technetium-99m or Tc-99m) by solving scale-up and proof-of-principle issues and demonstrating the commercial production of medical isotopes by April, 2012. It received $10 million for an experimental electron linear accelerator, augmented by an additional $2 million from the province (R$, January 31/11).

pursuing a new CNS

The new investments have added more ammunition to Saskatchewan's bid to become the locale for a new CNS. Last year, the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering unanimously endorsed the province's proposal over the current site of the National Research Universal (NRU) reactor in Chalk River ON.

The proposed project — estimated at between $500 million and $750 million — has been bogged down for years as the federal government attempts to sell off the CANDU business of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd and decide whether to replace the aging NRU.

"There are only two logical places to put it, Chalk River and Saskatoon which already has the CLS," says Basinger. "We will keep the pressure on and the province is still committed to it ... There's a wide range of research done here that can be piggybacked onto photon and neutron sources."

Although Saskatchewan's role in nuclear R&D stretches back to the 1940s, little has been done to capitalize on its rich uranium resources and research expertise. The 12-member UDP (chaired by Dr. Richard Florizone, VP finance and resources, Univ of Saskatchewan) has urged the province to aggressively pursue a new CNS as part of a wide-ranging strategy to "develop the uranium industry throughout the entire value chain".

"A research reactor is synergistic with existing research infrastructure and would provide Saskatchewan with significantly enhanced research capabilities," states the report.

The report also calls for medical isotope production to be part of the CNS' mandate, nuclear engineering and physics programs at the province's universities and the creation of a group of experts to determine investment priorities in targeted areas of nuclear research.

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