Stories

Read success stories about NRC research, and how our work contributes to the success of our clients and partners.

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- Shippagan Gully, New Brunswick

Research Centre: Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering
Acknowledging the value of Shippagan Gully to the economy, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) initiated a project to find the best way to improve the navigation conditions in the channel. But before any infrastructure building could begin, they needed to assess the impact that any new structures would have on wave and current activity. To do so, they turned to engineers at Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), researchers from the University of Ottawa and technical experts from the National Research Council (NRC) for help.
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- Ottawa, Ontario

Research Centre: Aerospace
For many years, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have been used for security and defence, search and rescue and for the surveying and mapping of remote areas. As the demand for their application soars, so too will the need for increasingly complex control systems, navigation equipment and communication technologies to keep them in the air and on course.
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- Halifax, Nova Scotia

Research Centre: Industrial Research Assistance Program
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- Winnipeg, Manitoba

Research Centre: Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering
One of Canada’s most vulnerable waterways is the Red-Assiniboine Basin where storms and spring flooding send a great number of agricultural pollutants into Lake Winnipeg, the area’s largest fresh-water resource. The resulting nutrient runoff acts like fertilizer, feeding microscopic algae which multiply rapidly and which create an “algal bloom” that depletes the oxygen in the water, increases water toxicity and puts fish, wildlife and people at risk of consuming these toxins.
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- Ottawa, Ontario

Research Centre: Energy, Mining and Environment
In 2006, the Canadian Forces Station (CFS) Alert -- the northernmost permanently inhabited settlement in the world -- suffered a serious fuel spill when a fuel line break caused 22,000 litres of diesel to leak into the surrounding soil. With approaching freezing temperatures and weather that would prove both harsh and unforgiving, an immediate and innovative clean-up solution was needed.
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- Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Research Centre: Aquatic and Crop Resource Development
Breaking a jar of liquid honey in his backpack while hiking in the 1990s got John Rowe thinking that honey should really be available in solid form. Since no one had ever invented such a product, he spent the next decade researching and developing the planet's first cube of solid honey that not only was 100 per cent natural, but also retained the look and taste of the raw source used to sweeten tea.