| 1898: |
Ernest Rutherford was appointed professor of experimental physics at McGill University, Montreal, and set up a world centre for research into the structure of the atom and into radioactivity |
| 1930: |
Gilbert Labine discovered Canada's first uranium deposit at Great Bear Lake |
| 1939: |
Hahn and Strassman gave the first report on nuclear fission and Joliot-Curie, Halban and Kowarski found proof of it |
| 1940: |
The first Canadian experimental work on nuclear fission began at National Research Council laboratories in Ottawa |
| 1942: |
The first self-sustaining chain reaction was achieved at the University of Chicago |
| 1943: |
The United States, Britain and Canada signed an agreement in Quebec City for joint action on nuclear fission ... British "heavy water" team from Cambridge University began transferring to NRC's Montreal Laboratories at the University de Montreal; it included Halban and Kowarski...Canada's first heavy water was produced by Cominco in Trail, B. C. |
| 1944: |
Construction began at Chalk River, the site chosen for the Canadian "heavy water" project |
| 1945: |
ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile), Canada's first reactor, started operating at Chalk River on September 5 |
| 1946: |
Canada's Atomic Energy Control Act was passed into law |
| 1947: |
NRX (National Research Experimental) reactor began operating at Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) on July 22 and went on to become one of the highest flux reactors in the world; it operated until 1992 |
| 1951: |
The world's first commercial cobalt-60 radiotherapy unit was installed at Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario. Canada went on to supply cobalt-60 machines to 70 countries where they were eventually used to administer half a million treatments annually |
| 1952: |
The Canadian government formed the Crown corporation, Atomic Energy of Canada Limited on April 1
On December 12 the NRX reactor suffered a major accident, but was returned to service in 14 months |
| 1953: |
Canada's first uranium mine opened at Beaverlodge, Ontario |
| 1954: |
A partnership between AECL, Ontario Hydro and Canadian General Electric was formed to build Canada's first nuclear power plant, NPD (Nuclear Power Demonstration) |
| 1957: |
NRU (National Research Universal) reactor started up on November 3; it is still considered one of the world's finest for its versatility and high neutron flux |
| 1958: |
The name CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) was chosen for the Canadian nuclear power station design, and the Nuclear Plant Division was established in Toronto
Bertram Brockhouse's triple-axis spectrometer was installed at the NRU reactor
The world's first tandem Van de Graaff accelerator began operation at CRL |
| 1959: |
AECL announced the establishment of a second research facility to be built at Whiteshell, Manitoba |
| 1960: |
Work began on the 200-megawatt CANDU prototype at Douglas Point on Lake Huron
CIRUS, a research reactor supplied by Canada to India, started up |
| 1962: |
NPD at Rolphton, Ontario, started supplying Canada's first nuclear-generated electricity to the grid on June 4 |
| 1963: |
AECL negotiated a contract with Deuterium of Canada Ltd. for the supply of heavy water from Canada's first large-scale heavy water plant to be built at Glace Bay, Nova Scotia |
| 1964: |
Plans were announced for a 1,000-megawatt nuclear generating station to be built at Pickering, Ontario |
| 1965: |
The first organically cooled research reactor in Canada, WR-1, went into service at Whiteshell on November 1 |
| 1967: |
The Douglas Point Station produced its first electricity |
| 1968: |
Ontario Hydro announced plans to build the Bruce Generating Station with four AECL designed 750 MW CANDU reactors |
| 1970: |
The prototype of SLOWPOKE, a small low-cost reactor for research, was started up at
CRL...The CANDUBLW prototype, Gentilly-1, was also started up |
| 1971: |
Units 1 and 2 at Pickering Generating Station A and Kanupp, a reactor built in Pakistan by Canadian General Electric, began operating ... Canadian General Electric's heavy water plant at Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia, went into production and AECL took over responsibility for reconstruction of the Glace Bay Heavy Water Plant |
| 1972: |
Two AECL-designed reactors began operating: RAPS 1 in India and Unit 3 at Pickering |
| 1973: |
With Unit 4 on line, the Pickering Station produced more electricity than any other nuclear power station in the world |
| 1974: |
Site preparation began in Rio Tercero, Argentina, and Point Lepreau, New Brunswick, for 600 MW CANDU reactors, and at Pickering for another four-unit station |
| 1975: |
The Port Hawkesbury and Glace Bay Heavy Water Plants were acquired by AECL |
| 1976: |
The University of Toronto acquired the first commercial SLOWPOKE reactor; three other Canadian universities also placed orders |
| 1977: |
Units 1 and 2 at Bruce A went into operation
Pickering Unit 3 had the highest capacity factor in the world. |
| 1978: |
Under a joint agreement between the federal and Ontario governments, AECL was made lead agency for studies to immobilize and dispose of high-level radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants |
| 1979: |
Site clearing began for the first CANDU reactor in Romania |
| 1981: |
For the first time, nuclear stations in Ontario produced more electricity than either coal fired or hydroelectric stations |
| 1982: |
AECL received the go-ahead to construct an underground research laboratory at Lac du Bonnet, Manitoba, to study methods of storing nuclear fuel wastes |
| 1983: |
CANDU held seven of the top 10 places for lifetime performance among the world's reactors Korea
Three CANDU-6 units in New Brunswick, Quebec, and South Korea went into commercial service
The first of 4 Pickering A units was taken out of service for re-tubing the reactor |
| 1984: |
The fourth CANDU-6 unit went into commercial service in Argentina
The Douglas Point reactor was retired from service on May 5 |
| 1985: |
Because of over-supply of heavy water, the two plants in Nova Scotia were closed
The first beam was extracted from AECL's superconducting cyclotron at CRL |
| 1987: |
The NPD reactor was retired from service in May
CANDU received the honour of being included in the top 10 Canadian engineering achievements of the past century, in celebrations marking Canada's engineering centennial |
| 1989: |
Darlington Unit 2 produced its first power |
| 1990: |
Darlington Unit 2 went into commercial service
South Korea purchased a second CANDU reactor from Canada |
| 1991: |
The full Tandem Accelerator Superconducting Cyclotron (TASCC) facility was commissioned at CRL
The Dualspec neutron spectrometer was commissioned at NRU |
| 1992: |
Darlington Unit 1 went into commercial service
South Korea purchased a third and fourth CANDU 6 reactor from Canada |
| 1993: |
Darlington Units 3 and 4 went into commercial service
Point Lepreau was the leader in lifetime performance among more than 400 nuclear power reactors worldwide
The last of the 4 Pickering A reactors to be re-tubed was returned to service
The NRX reactor at CRL was permanently shut down on April 8 |
| 1994: |
On April 10 Pickering 7 broke the world record for continuous operation at 713 days; on October 7 it was closed for maintenance after setting an 894 day record ...AECL submitted the Environmental Impact Statement for the concept for disposal of used nuclear fuel to the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency ...Bertram Brockhouse was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for neutron scattering work done at NRU (see 1958) |
| 1995: |
September 5 marked the 50th anniversary of the start-up of the ZEEP facility at Chalk River
South Korea's HANARO research reactor, based on AECL's MAPLE technology, started up
The NRU reactor passed its 1,500th day of operation without a shutdown of more than 130 hours a record unparalleled worldwide
On October 8 Bruce 2 was shut down for an indefinite lay-up due to aging concerns and boiler tube integrity |
| 1996: |
In January, Bruce Unit 3 became the first CANDU reactor in the world to reach 100 million MWh of lifetime gross energy production, enough to supply a city the size of Thunder Bay for 90 years
On November 26, AECL signed a $4 billion contract for the sale of two CANDU 6 reactors to China
Cernavoda 1 went critical for the first time on April 16 and began commercial operation on December 2 |
| 1997: |
On July 1, Wolsong 2 achieved commercial operation
On October 16 Bruce 1 was shut down for an indefinite lay-up due to aging concerns
At the end of December all Pickering A units were shut down for an indefinite lay-up as part of Ontario Hydro’s Nuclear Asset Optimization Plan (NAOP) |
| 1998: |
Wolsong 3, South Korea's third CANDU, went critical for the first time on February 20 and achieved commercial operation on July 1
On March 17 and April 9 Bruce Units 4 and 3, respectively, were shut down for an indefinite lay-up as part of Ontario Hydro’s Nuclear Asset Optimization Plan (NAOP)
RAPS-2 was returned to service after a 4-year planned outage for re-tubing of the reactor |
| 1999: |
Wolsong 4, South Korea's fourth CANDU, went critical for the first time on April 10 and achieved commercial operation on October 1 |
| 2000: |
Four PHWRs in India, RAPS-3 and 4 and Kaiga-1 and 2, went into commercial operation on June 1, December 23, March 5 and November 16, respectively |
| 2001: |
On May 14 Bruce Power and Ontario Power Generation announced the successful financial closing of the lease transaction for facilities at the Bruce nuclear site |
| 2002: |
On January 9 MAPS-2 began a planned outage for re-tubing of the reactor
50-years anniversary of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
40 years of nuclear power in Canada
Qinshan 4, the first of two Chinese CANDU units, went into service on December 31 |
