January 20, 2014 – Canada’s Department of Natural Resources (NRCan) and Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) and the Department of Energy of the United States (DoE) recently signed an Implementing Arrangement for collaboration in nuclear science and technology.

The arrangement will strengthen relations with Canada’s largest energy trading partner, says NRCan, and reinforce the relationship between the DoE, NRCan and AECL. It will allow Canadian researchers to collaborate with U.S. colleagues on a range of nuclear science and technology topics, including safety and security. The arrangement will allow scientists in both countries to leverage complementary facilities and expertise “to stimulate innovation and efficiencies”.

PHOTO: Canada’s Greg Rickford, minister of natural resources, and U.S. energy secretary Ernest Moniz, sign an Agreement to Enhance Collaboration in Civilian Nuclear Energy Research & Development on January 13, 2015, in Washington D.C. Photo courtesy NRCan.

Collaboration with the U.S. in nuclear science and technology will contribute to a common understanding and an integrated development approach incorporating non-proliferation, safeguards and security technologies into the most basic elements of nuclear systems and fuel, thereby strengthening non-proliferation frameworks and protocols, added NRCan.

The participants will engage in this cooperation through the U.S. International Nuclear Energy Research Initiative (I-NERI) program. The arrangement will expand the range of options for bilateral engagement, continued NRCan, enhancing opportunities for Canadian laboratories (such as AECL’s Nuclear Laboratories and NRCan’s CanmetEnergy), to collaborate with their U.S. counterparts.

The arrangement does not create any new legally binding obligations for work or resources, NRCan concluded.