Memento from Taiwan Research Reactor

Artifact Number:

2018-257

Stone (jade?) disk (7.5 cm diameter, 1 cm thick) engraved on one side with a ¾ view of the Taiwan Research Reactor (TRR) and “1969 – 1973”, and with Chinese characters encircled by a decorative geometric design on the other side. The disk is held firmly in a dark lacquered decorative wooden base with a carved vegetative motive encasing the edges of the bottom half of the disk. The base measures 10 cm by 4.3 cm and has a white paper label on the bottom bearing the inscription:

TO T.G. Tennant

Compliments of:

C.A.E.C. (Chinese Atomic Energy Council)

The memento was a gift to Thomas George Tennant, a CNRL nuclear operator who worked at the TRR in 1972.

The Chinese characters on the rear of the disk read – (outer circle) “To commemorate the completion of the Taiwan Research Reactor; Chinese Atomic Energy Council gift” and (central banner) “In appreciation of your many contributions” (Translation by O.T. Woo – retired CRNL employee)

The Taiwan Research Reactor, a similar reactor to NRX, was to become a point of major international concerns in later years with regard to safeguards and the potential non-civilian use of the plutonium in the used fuel elements.

Keywords:

natural uranium reactors; formosa

Materials:

stone (jade?) and wood

Date:

1973 or later

Notes:

From “Canada Enters the Nuclear Age” (CETNA) (p. 24): “AECL sold an updated version of NRX to Taiwan late in the sixties. A diplomatic break with Taiwan occurred before the construction was completed, but it did not interfere with the project.”

From “Nucleus” (pp. 424-425): “Taiwan was another success. AECL had bid for a fixed-price contract, $30 million, and came in on target and with a small profit. But Taiwan was a research reactor, not a power system; moreover, Canada was in the process of re-recognizing the Taiwanese government in favour of the Chinese Communist government in Beijing. As far as the government of Canada was concerned, Taiwan no longer existed, and it was impossible to sell such a sensitive item as a reactor to a government that no longer had any legitimacy in official Canadian eyes. That the Taiwanese wanted another reactor and would pay for it in cash made no difference to the political facts.”

References:

AECL, “Canada Enters the Nuclear Age: A Technical History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited” (CETNA), Mc-Gill-Queens’ University Press, 1997, ISBN 0-7735-1601-8. Bothwell, “Nucleus: The History of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited,” University of Toronto Press, 1988, ISBN 0-8020-2670-2.