CINS submits expression of interest in AECL

CINS submits expression of interest in AECL: http://www.cins.ca/news.html "March 30, 2012 - CINS has responded to Natural Resources Canada's consultative process on the restructuring of AECL, known as a Request for Expressions of Interest. The following is a summary of the submission. The document may be downloaded here.
CINS would seek to contribute to an oversight role so as to restore CRL to its proper position as a centre for research in Canada, and to ensure that its unique combination of capabilities is managed for the benefit of all clients, whether they be academic, government or industrial users.
Our members are active users of the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre that is based around the NRU reactor at Chalk River. Our organisation seeks to promote the use of neutron beam research techniques and our members have been involved in research at Chalk River Laboratories almost since the facility was created. We believe that neither Chalk River Laboratories in general, nor Canadian neutron beam research in particular, have a meaningful future without a powerful research reactor on the Chalk River site, and that since NRU is coming to the end of its operational life, it is essential that a new research reactor be built as a matter of great urgency so that an orderly succession can be managed. Furthermore, in order to fully realise the scientific and technical potential of Chalk River Laboratories, a major shift in culture will be needed so that research is identified as a laboratory priority, and external users from academia, government and industry are both welcomed and supported in their research.
The National Research Universal (NRU) reactor and the associated facilities at Chalk River Laboratories represent the largest national investment in research infrastructure in Canada. Despite decades of worldclass contributions to research in all aspects of nuclear science and technology, the site was allowed to decay from the mid-90s and it has become a pale shadow of its former self. With investment in a new research reactor, and active promotion of a new research-centred mission for the laboratory, a revitalised Chalk River Laboratories could regain its position as a world leader in nuclear and neutron-based science and technology and serve a broad range of academic, government and industrial users. It would advance knowledge and contribute to the training of thousands of highly qualified people, both those who work onsite, and the far larger number of people who would visit the laboratories to use the facilities and interact with the teams of local specialists. By re-defining the site's mandate as “research”, Chalk River Laboratories would be in a position to contribute to fields far from nuclear engineering and would support research in energy, environment, health, communications, materials science, fundamental physics and chemistry and manufacturing and process development for the automotive, aerospace and mineral processing sectors. The knowledge gained would both expand Canada's technological base, and also inform government as it seeks to develop science-based policies that support a technology-driven economy, and that both foster and regulate industry in Canada."

this is the link to the full document submitted: http://www.cins.ca/docs/CINS_EOI_AECL.pdf