Emergency Planning & Response

Information on radioisotope dispersal is critical to enable informed public policy decision-making regarding how best to respond to an emergency. CNL research and development focuses on improving the understanding of radionuclide migration in the environment after an accident or other non-normal event. It includes enhancing methods for modelling and rapid detection and measurement of radionuclides in the environment and investigating ways to reduce the source-term of radioactive releases to the environment. CNL also supports government stakeholders at all levels, academia, and industry with technology and realistic, comprehensive training and evaluation environments to build capability in emergency response and material security scenarios. CNL is a trusted biodosimetry partner for the Government of Canada, supporting national efforts to rapidly and accurately measure radiological dose to individuals exposed during a nuclear or radiological event.

CNL spotlights emergency response capabilities in major nuclear emergency exercise

A multi-disciplinary team from Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) had the chance to showcase their capabilities and expertise in nuclear emergency response in a major joint Canada – United States exercise. “Exercise Cobalt Magnet 2025”, hosted by the United States Department of Energy, was organized to evaluate the communication and response functions across state, federal, U.S.-Canadian, Canadian, provincial, and municipal emergency preparedness levels. For CNL, this meant an opportunity for its Radiological Assessment Team to take part in the federal field response and its Nuclear Response & Analysis team to provide the scientific expertise on the mock accident consequences.

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FNST Project takes to the skies with a “drone” mounted detector

During the week of October 10, 2023, a team from CNL conducted a major unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, also referred to as a drone) testing campaign at the BR-1 reactor in Belgium as part of a collaboration with SCK-CEN, Belgium’s nuclear research organization. While CNL does have some experience building customized detectors for onboard UAVs, this particular exercise was unique for CNL, and allowed CNL to showcase the value of an integrated S&T team.

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Meet the Team

Luke LebelNuclear Response & Analysis

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The focus of Luke Lebel’s research at CNL is on the implications of nuclear accidents and radiological incidents, and on how to protect the public from them. Dr. Lebel’s main expertise is on the transport of radionuclides out of, for example, nuclear power plant containment buildings and out into the environment, as well as the aerosol science and fluid mechanics expertise that supports those efforts. Highlights of his past work include analysis of environmental radioiodine transport in the wake of the Fukushima Daiichi accident, and of the full scale radiological dispersal device experiments. He is currently leading efforts on the development of new tools and techniques for advanced radiological measurements, real-time dose protection tools, and decision support systems to help emergency responders better respond to a major accident.

Dev MinotraHuman Performance Scientist

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Dr. Dev Minotra is a Human Performance Scientist in the Nuclear Response & Analysis Branch at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. His work is focused in emergency preparedness and response in the context of radiological/nuclear events. Dev’s interests include cognitive readiness, human error, staffing capacity, cognitive biases, interruptions, attention, non-technical skills, interface design, and systems evaluation. Dev has experience synthesizing reviews of research articles and can offer insights in complex problems related to human performance, safety, and decision making. Prior to joining CNL, Dev worked in the healthcare industry as a Human Factors Specialist where he provided recommendations to address human error in hospital pharmacies, neonatal intensive care, and logistics.