One of Saskatchewan’s top academic institutions has received substantial funding to help propel its nuclear research.
The University of Regina announced that it has obtained over C$580,000 from Innovation Saskatchewan on Monday — a provincial government agency. This sum will be divided amongst three different projects.
More than half of the cash will be used for a complicated initiative in the subatomic physics field.
“The funding will be used to help construct and test components of the heavy gas cherenkov (HGC) detector, a critical piece of a solenoidal large intensity device (SoLID), one of the world’s most powerful microscopes,” the institution said in a news release.
“The SoLID project is a collaboration of 300 members from 70+ institutions in 13 countries, and the HGC detector is a significant part of Canada’s contribution to advancing physics globally.”
The remainder will be used for a study aimed at protecting small modular reactor (SMR) fuel housing from rust and damage (C$200,000); and a project for upgrading simulation lab equipment so that it can “study nuclear matter” under extreme conditions (C$83,100). Innovation Saskatchewan has provided over C$18 million to provincial schools through its Innovation and Science Fund in the past six years.
“This advanced research will accelerate nuclear science leadership in Canada and help develop new, beneficial, technologies,” the university explained, “such as computational accelerators, which are needed to significantly expedite calculations related to AI and supercomputing.”
We were honoured Minister Colleen Young could announce our funding into three projects at @UofRegina.
These researchers are leading the way in nuclear energy and science and subatomic physics and training the next generation of scientists in SK!https://t.co/HYSxv3ZvHG pic.twitter.com/qkPXsnuTEo
— Innovation Sask (@InnovationSask) July 15, 2024
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A prominent nuclear research and uranium mining region
Saskatchewan excels in both nuclear research and mining an essential commodity for fuel in nuclear power units.
The province’s section of the Athabasca Basin has been one of the world’s top uranium producing jurisdictions for many years and has solidified its stature as the planet’s highest-grade uranium region.
CanAlaska Uranium Ltd. (TSX-V: CVV), for instance, just reported a new core assay yielding 11.6 per cent triuranium octoxide equivalent (eU3O8) over 9.3 metres. Rich intercepts like these are not pulled from the soil anywhere else and there is a steady stream of them from various companies. Particularly on the eastern side of the mining jurisdiction.
Others actively drilling in the Athabasca Basin include Stallion Uranium Corp. (TSX-V: STUD) (OTCQB: STLNF), ATHA Energy Corp. (TSX-V: SASK) (OTCQB: SASKF) (FRA: X5U) and IsoEnergy Ltd. (TSX-V: ISO).
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