In the fall of 2020 during an easing in the lockdown conditions. Phyllis Purvis called the Society for the Preservation of Canada’s Nuclear Heritage Inc. to say she had an unidentified artifact to donate. It had been a retirement memento given to her late husband Peter but she was uncertain what is represented or what it could be used for. She suggested that Ross Meadowcroft, one of Peter’s co-workers, might be able to identify it.
An email to Ross with a photograph of the artifact elicited the simple response that it was a “nutcracker”. As the festive season was then approaching, thoughts of the traditional nutcracker quickly came to mind but the artifact in question bore little resemblance the standard model used in the ballet. A bit of head-scratching and several more emails resulted not only in a fuller explanation but also in a second, shinier copy of the artifact.
Both Peter Purvis and Ross Meadowcroft worked at CRNL in the Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Branch (NFFB) where two very large (~6 m tall) hydraulic presses are housed. The presses, originally manufactured by the Hepburn Engineering Company in Toronto in the 1960s, were extrusion presses made to fabricate the fuel rods used in the National Reactor Universal (NRU) reactor.
The retirement mementos, which can in fact be used as nut crackers, are excellently-build 1:20 scale replicas of the Hepburn presses. One was presented to Peter on his retirement in 1992 while the second was presented to Ross in 1993.
In addition to the artifact Ross donated a photograph of the NFFB personnel standing in front of the presses (with all the Branch members identified.) The photograph, along with many others taken of groups of employees going back to the 1950s are posted on the Society website www.nuclearheritage.com under the People tab. The Society would appreciate help in identifying any of the people whose names are missing, any corrections in the names posted as well as any additional group photographs that could be added to the collection. Information can be sent to info@nuclearheritage.com or Box 441, Deep River ON, K0J 1P0.
