SPRING / SUMMER 2021
Hello Everyone I hope that you are all staying safe and healthy and this issue finds you well. Now that the summer months are upon us, we thought you may enjoy some time to escape in your tree fort or lay on your beach blanket to read through our latest issue of Kids CONTACT. In this issue, you will learn about our work to keep our oceans and air clean, “Bulldog” our Tactical Support Robot and a job that helps us understand more about heat and nuclear reactors. As always, we would love to hear from you, our readers, and we enjoy your artwork and puzzles. You can always send your questions or creative projects to communications@cnl.ca.
Don't let a tick make you sick! As we are all outside more in the warm weather, it is important to remember that certain insects also enjoy the warm weather. One insect in particular that loves being outside are ticks. While tick bites themselves are usually harmless, some bites may cause Lyme disease which could make you very sick. Ticks live in forests, wooded areas, shrubs, tall grass and leaf piles so it is important to wear long pants and long-sleeve shirts, and spray bug repellent. Ticks may be creepy-crawly insects but don't let them stop you from enjoying the outdoors! With proper prevention and care, we can make sure that ticks don't make us sick! To learn more about tick identification and prevention, a good place to start is by visiting www.etick.ca.
Before you start flipping through the pages of this latest issue, don’t forget to tell your friends and family about this great joke! Question: Why did the scientist take out their doorbell? Answer: They wanted to win the no-bell prize! Jennifer Gardner, Editor communications@cnl.ca
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MONARCH BUTTERFLY Monarch butterflies are not just beautiful creatures, they also contribute to the health of our planet. While feeding on nectar, they transfer pollen from many types of wildflowers. The flowers they choose are brightly coloured, grow in clusters, stay open during the day, and have flat surfaces that serve as landing pads for their tiny guests. Monarch butterflies are also an important food source for birds, small animals and other insects. The Monarch butterfly life cycle: • The Monarch life cycle begins when the female Monarch butterfly lays her eggs individually on separate milkweed leaves. • A few days later, the eggs hatch into the larva stage, which we see as the Monarch caterpillar. • The Monarch caterpillar needs to grow as much as possible in the next two weeks, so it feasts on the only thing it eats - milkweed. • Fully fed for the next phase of its life, the caterpillar enters the pupa stage by hanging upside down from a plant stem and spinning a protective chrysalis around itself. • A couple of weeks later, the caterpillar emerges from the chrysalis as a fully-formed, adult Monarch butterfly. • If it isn't time to migrate, adult butterflies immediately begin the Monarch life cycle again - that is, after they find a meal of nectar from pollinator plants nearby. Colour: Orange and black with small white spots. The caterpillar has black, white and yellow stripes. Size: Wingspan: 93 to 105 mm. Particular Traits: Monarch and Viceroy butterflies look almost identical. The only difference is that a Viceroy has a black line that crosses its lower wings. Habitat: As a caterpillar, they live on milkweed plants. In the butterfly stage, they are found in various areas where there are wildflowers for nectar. Behaviour: Lives in warmer regions in the spring and summer months and migrates to Mexico in the colder months.
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TOOLS OF THE TRADE: Coordinate Measurement Machine (CMM) The name of this tool may not sound super exciting but it does include a robotic arm and a laser which as you know, are pretty awesome! Sadly, it won't help you win a game of laser tag but it does produce a 3D digital image of the object or material you are scanning.
A CMM accurately measures the shape and size of solid objects using two types of probes - mechanical and optical.
The mechanical probe can find certain features, like the distance between two points on an object.
The optical probe is used as a scanner to produce 3D reconstruction of scientific materials which can be viewed on a computer.
Once reconstruction is completed, a reproduction of the object is done by 3D printing or features the shape and size of the object on the computer.
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Cool Careers! Chuk Azih, Research Scientist Tell us a little bit about what you do. As a research scentist for nuclear safety, my job is to perform experiments to generate data that can be used to evaluate or improve the way heat can leave a nuclear reactor. Our team sets up experiments that copy aspects of a nuclear reactor and have many different kinds of sensors. For example, some sensors monitor temperatures so we can measure how hot the components are. And other sensors monitor deformation so that we know how the shape of the components are changing during the experiment.
Why do you feel that your job is important? The work that our team does helps us to understand how reactor systems behave so that we are ensuring that existing reactors operate safely and constantly improve the builtin safety features for new designs. Our work contributes to ensuring the safe and reliable production of nuclear power.
What is the most interesting or exciting part of your job? I like the challenge of trying to figure out, with my team, how to meet the customers' needs by forming an idea of new experimental designs using unique components. Often times we get approached with a question that can only be answered by performing experiments that may not have been done before. I also really enjoy analyzing experimental data. In some cases, the challenge is to come up with a way to present the data so that the customer can easily understand it.
How did you become a research scientist? I have always enjoyed learning and achieved my graduate and post-graduate degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Being a research scientist provides me with an environment where there are always new things to learn. I can learn by talking to my co-workers about their ideas, reading what other scientists have published all over the world and analyzing data that is produced from experiments that I have done.
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Keeping our oceans and our air clean As the warm weather has arrived, more people take the opportunity to enjoy being outdoors and on the water. While a boat is a great way to travel on oceans, rivers and lakes, they also use diesel fuel to operate, which produces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other forms of pollution that can harm the environment. To reduce these emissions, the use of hydrogen is being explored as a more environmentally-friendly type of fuel. At CNL, we work on a lot of cool projects to figure out how to make Canada's energy better for our environment. One of these projects is the
development of a tool - known as the Marine-Zero FuelTM (MaZeFTM) Assessment Tool - which can tell us how hydrogen and other sources of clean energy could reduce pollution in our boats. We're working with some smart people at other companies - Transport Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard who want to figure this out, too. As part of this project, CNL scientists are also trying to understand how hydrogen would be produced, stored and moved around by workers. Overall, CNL wants to help make sure that the operation of our boats doesn't harm the wildlife and bodies of water that we all care so much about.
In the same way that electricity is used to power a light bulb, hydrogen can be used to power a boat. It can also be: • • •
Used as fuel for drones, vehicles, buses, aircrafts, and ships. Produced from water and organic materials using various energy sources, including electricity from nuclear, hydro, solar, and wind power plants. Turned into liquid fuels - like the gasoline that goes in our cars.
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MEET "BULLDOG" THE TACTICAL SUPPORT ROBOT CNL has lots of experience in demolishing and deconstructing older buildings at the Chalk River Laboratories. In order to continue this work, the team that performs this work has purchased a very cool "sidekick" to help with the job. Its name is LT2-F "Bulldog" Tactical Support Robot. "Bulldog" is capable of moving around various items and moving up and down stairs which also enables the team to view and conduct work remotely and safely in dangerous areas. It also has arms that move in many directions that allow staff to handle and work with objects in these potentially dangerous areas during decommissioning activities, such as survey measurements, sampling, dismantling equipment and disposals, in place of physical work. The new and highly anticipated equipment is expected to arrive at the Chalk River Laboratories in the summer months and we look forward to using it for our future projects while also continuing to work safely.
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Hide and Seek! Can you find all these items hidden in this issue of Kids CONTACT? Just write down what page you found them on in the small circle. Send in your entry, and you just might win a prize!
your Send a picture of or artwork le zz completed pu to: @cnl.ca
communications
aw an entry Each issue, we’ll dr nce-themed to win a great scie prize!
Your Artwork... Maeve
Isla
Jack
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“Picture This” Challenge! As we mentioned earlier, Monarch butterflies are very popular insects to see outside this time of year. Could you draw us a picture of a butterfly or other insects you may have seen outside? When you are finished your artwork, send in a photo to communications@cnl.ca.
Gabriel
Jaxson
Dolly
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In “Under The Microscope” we’ll feature a sample image taken in our materials science laboratories, allowing you a close up view of the world we live in. While we see sand at our beaches, in our yards and at our work sites, have you ever wondered what sand looks like up close? This is a series of photos of sand from outside one of our research facilities at the Chalk River Laboratories.
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CNL Corporate Communications 286 Plant Road, Stn 700 A Chalk River ON, K0J 1J0 1-800-364-6989 communications@cnl.ca www.cnl.ca
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If you have a question for one of our scientists, send it in by email to communications@cnl.ca. We’ll get it in the next issue!
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