Chalk River Laboratories
AECL's Chalk River Laboratories (CRL) are located in the Province of Ontario, 190 km northwest of Canada's national capital, Ottawa. The CRL site comprises 3,700 hectares (9,100 acres) along the Ottawa River.

AECL's major research and development (R&D) efforts take place here, and the facility has world-class expertise in physics, metallurgy, chemistry, biology, and engineering.

In addition to the more than 1,900 permanent staff at CRL, AECL also employs co-op students and has an active summer employment program.

Whiteshell Laboratories
AECL's Whiteshell Laboratories (WL), located 100 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, was established in 1961. This is where AECL pioneered the development of dry storage containment facilities for used nuclear fuel – technology that is now in use throughout the world. Research into food irradiation, hydrogen safety and performance, materials science for satellites and high performance aircraft, nuclear reactor design, reactor safety research and nuclear fuel waste management has also been conducted at the site.

AECL's Underground Research Laboratory (URL), is the first facility of its kind in the world. It is located about 120 km northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and was established in 1982. The facility extends over 400 meters into the ground – if Toronto’s CN tower were placed inside, only the antenna would be above ground!