Timeline: HTML Version

Plutonium isotopes are produced at Chalk River A plutonium recovery laboratory begins operating at Chalk River Laboratories to extract plutonium isotopes from enriched fuels used in research reactors. Chalk River announced that radioactive isotopes would then be available for international distribution.

• ARCHIVED - AECB Annual Report 1949–1950, p. 8

The Chalk River experimental reactor experiences a partial meltdown The core of the National Research Experimental reactor at Chalk River Laboratories undergoes a partial meltdown. Some tubes in the calandria rupture and cause significant damage that puts the reactor out of service for 14 months. Future U.S. President Jimmy Carter, then a U.S. Navy serviceman, is part of the clean-up crew. (Source: Canadian Nuclear Society)

• ARCHIVED - AECB Annual Report, 1952-1953, page 7
• The NRX Incident, Peter Jedicke

Collaboration leads to CANDU reactor technology Collaboration between Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd., Ontario Hydro and Canadian General Electric leads to the development of the CANDU reactor, which is still in use around the world today. (Source: Canadian Nuclear Association)

Promoting peaceful use of atomic energy The United Nations holds the first International Conference on the Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy in Geneva. A unanimous resolution is adopted to establish an international agency to promote the peaceful uses of atomic energy. (Source: International Atomic Energy Agency)

• Brief History of Peaceful Use of Atomic Energy, International Atomic Energy Agency
• ARCHIVED - AECB Annual Report 1955–1956, p. 7

Canada and India sign an atomic reactor agreement A commercial version of the National Research Experimental reactor, the Canadian-Indian Reactor Uranium System , is sold to the Indian government with the intent of peaceful use. India eventually uses the reactor to obtain plutonium for a nuclear test known as Operation Smiling Buddha. (Source: Nucleus: The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Robert Bothwell, pp. 355, 429)

The AECB authorizes construction of a research reactor at McMaster U The AECB authorizes the construction of a small research reactor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. This is the first non-government reactor project in Canada.

• Constructing a Nuclear Reactor, McMaster Nuclear Reactor website.

Canada is among 26 countries to ratify the International Atomic Energy Agency The International Atomic Energy Agency is established to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and to establish and administer safeguards against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

• ARCHIVED - Annual Report, 1959-1960

Regulations for an evolving nuclear sector Regulatory changes authorize the AECB to establish acceptable levels of radiation exposure for nuclear energy workers and to control their health and safety. The AECB is also authorized to make regulations to encourage and regulate the development of atomic energy in view of the increasing use of radioactive isotopes for industrial, research and medical purposes.

• ARCHIVED - A History of the Atomic Energy Control Board, Gordon H.E. Sims
• ARCHIVED - AECB Annual Report 1959–1960, p. 9 and Appendix B
• The Role of the Atomic Energy Control Board in Uranium Mining and Exploration, A.T. Prince