Mr. Speaker, the Canadian Neutron Beam Centre at Chalk River Laboratories is a national science facility promoting Canada's federal goals for science and technology. The centre relies on the NRU reactor, a multi-purpose source for neutron beam research, isotope production and support for Canada's world-class nuclear power technology.
That homegrown talent is what Ontario will benefit from by buying local with the next generation of CANDU to power jobs in the Ontario economy. For Canada to maintain its leadership position in this field of scientific research and maintain our dominant market position as the world leader in medical isotope production, replacing the NRU has never been more critical.
With the memory of Nobel Prize winner Bert Brockhouse and his work at Chalk River to guide us, and the pool of talent to continue his work at Chalk River Laboratories available, the National Research Council of Canada is ready and capable to repeat the success of the original NRU, to serve Canadian science research development well into the 21st century.