Detection and Safeguards Systems

CNL has developed – and will continue to expand – substantial test and evaluation capabilities that will continue to be provided as a service to the Canadian Government, as well as internal and external nuclear detector systems’ developers and manufacturers. Through this role, we’ve become recognized for our expertise in emerging radiation and nuclear detection methods. These include quantum technologies, noble liquid scintillation detectors, and additive manufacturing of detector materials. CNL also continues to build expertise in algorithm development and improvement to advance the capabilities of new and existing detector systems. CNL is responsible for developing detection technologies to assess sealed containers crossing bordersand spent fuel assemblies during transfer to remote storage areas with limited access, and operation of advanced fuel cycle reactors, such as small modular reactors. Our work demonstrates Canadian national security and global leadership through international commitments to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and its interests in nuclear safeguards regimes and treaties.

Could liquid neon be the answer to monitoring the safe operation of Small Modular Reactors?

As the newest member to the COHERENT Collaboration at the Spallation Neutron Source based at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, the CNL research team of Andrew Erlandson, David Perez Loureiro, Mark Stringer, and Bhaskar Sur will be working to enable the future use of liquid neon as a tool in detecting neutrinos to help monitor the safe operation of small modular reactors or SMRs.

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Recent News

16 January, 2026 No comment
Listening to the heartbeat of Canada’s nuclear fleet: How CNL researchers are using neutron detectors to track vibrations and monitor the health of nuclear reactors

Inside every nuclear reactor is an invisible orchestra of particles at work. Neutrons collide with heavy atoms, splitting them apart......

Read More Listening to the heartbeat of Canada’s nuclear fleet: How CNL researchers are using neutron detectors to track vibrations and monitor the health of nuclear reactors
04 March, 2025 No comment
Researchers identify detection technique with potential to stop malicious parties from ‘cheating’ their way through nuclear materials inspections

Following a series of experiments, CNL researchers conclude that Active Neutron Interrogation could potentially detect and identify even the most......

Read More Researchers identify detection technique with potential to stop malicious parties from ‘cheating’ their way through nuclear materials inspections

Meet the Team

Liqian LiApplied Physics

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Liqian brings 20 years’ experience in radiation detection technology for nuclear safety and security. He has designed advance data acquisition systems dealing with partial energy, pulse shape, timing, and position information, and is an expert in research reactor modeling using neutron flux perturbation method. He is currently working on active interrogation techniques for detecting Special Nuclear Materials, and PVT (polyvinyltoluene) panel coincidence technology.

Evan RandApplied Physicist

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Evan’s work is focused on advancing radiation technologies for border security and nuclear non-proliferation. This includes the development, improvement and validation of muon tomography detectors and algorithms for the detection of shielded special nuclear materials. Evan is also leading the development of a prototype liquid argon detector for the screening of cargo containers at Canadian borders. This potentially disruptive technology, which is currently being employed to search for dark matter in the universe, offers an enhanced sensitivity to special nuclear materials via pulse-shape discrimination. Outside of nuclear safety and security, Evan works with a team of scientists studying the transient behaviour of reactors using CNL’s ZED-2 reactor, a versatile heavy-water moderated low-power research reactor.

Bryan van der EndeReactor Physics

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Bryan heads the Experimental Safeguards section which focuses on research and development of technical measures for implementing safeguards of nuclear material. He has led projects and project tasks in the area of nuclear material detection, safeguards, and non-proliferation. Currently, he is technical lead for a project on passive nuclear material detection and reactor monitoring techniques, and a commercial project with a small modular reactor (SMR) vendor focused on developing a safeguards approach for their reactor design. He recently participated in a Canada-wide task team examining principles for revising security regulations for SMRs. He is representing Canada in the revision of the manual on proliferation resistance of the International Project on Innovative Nuclear Reactors and Fuel Cycles (INPRO), and as a member of the Generation IV Forum Proliferation Resistance and Physical Protection Working Group.

Detection and Safeguards Systems

Could liquid neon be the answer to monitoring the safe operation of Small Modular Reactors?

Recent News

Listening to the heartbeat of Canada’s nuclear fleet: How CNL researchers are using neutron detectors to track vibrations and monitor the health of nuclear reactors

Researchers identify detection technique with potential to stop malicious parties from ‘cheating’ their way through nuclear materials inspections

Meet the Team

Liqian LiApplied Physics

Evan RandApplied Physicist

Bryan van der EndeReactor Physics