[Daily News]

This Friday morning (October 29th), McMaster University will conduct an exercise of its emergency procedures.

The exercise will take place at the McMaster Nuclear Reactor (MNR). Emergency exercises are part of the Reactor's license requirements stipulated by the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, which oversees the activities of nuclear reactors across the country. As well, such exercises help McMaster prepare for emergency scenarios and identify ways to improve response times and action protocols.

-The exercise will take place between 9 a.m. and noon.

-An emergency cordon will be established in the vicinity of the reactor and nearby buildings.

-Signs will be posted around the cordon indicating an exercise is in progress and redirecting pedestrian and in some cases vehicular traffic.

-Emergency vehicles, and Hamilton Police and Hamilton Fire Department personnel will be participating in the exercise inside the perimeter area marked by temporary fencing.

-Buildings will not be evacuated, and classes and regular campus business will not be affected.

-Bus service and delivery services on campus will not be disrupted.

Since it opened in 1959, the McMaster Nuclear Reactor has maintained a clean safety and security record and in 2007 the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission renewed the Reactor's license for a seven-year term. In addition to being used as an educational and research reactor, the McMaster Nuclear Reactor produces half the world's supply of I-125 medical isotopes.