SNC-Lavalin to Buy Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.

by The Mark Newsroom

• First Posted: Jun 28 2011 08:58 AM
• Updated: 22 minutes ago

The Crown corporation responsible for the 17 nuclear reactors across Canada could be sold to a private firm as soon as this week.

The federal government is getting ready to sell the beleaguered Atomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., after years of cost overruns at the Crown corporation. SNC-Lavalin, an engineering company from Montreal, is set to purchase the commercial half of AECL, which designs, produces, and services CANDU nuclear reactors around the world, but principally in Canada. CANDU reactors are the only nuclear reactors used in Canada, and have been sold to Argentina, Romania, India, South Korea, and China. The production of medical isotopes, used for cancer diagnoses, will remain in government hands at the Chalk River, Ont., facility, which makes about half of the world's supply.