Saskatchewan funds new centre for nuclear innovation

The Saskatchewan government is providing $30 million over seven years to launch the Canadian Centre for Nuclear Innovation (CCNI) which was announced last spring as part of a multi-faceted strategy to boost the province's capabilities in nuclear science and engineering (R$, March 17/11). CCNI will be located at the Univ of Saskatchewan, augmenting 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. CCNI will focus its research on nuclear medicine, nuclear materials science, safety and engineering and the environment. Provincial funding will be used to attract co-financing through partnerships with academia, governments and industry. It will operate as a subsidiary of the university and issue calls for proposals for research projects in the coming months. Local researchers will submit project proposals in collaboration with with industry, academics and government partners for evaluation by an expert advisory committee of external reviewers….