| May. 19, 2003. 01:00 AM Manitoba lab shutdown AECL drops project after OPG pulls out Layoff notices have been issued to 25 employees PINAWA, Man.—The imminent closing of a $40-million underground research laboratory has shocked residents of this community east of Winnipeg. "This came right came out of the blue," Pinawa Mayor Len Simpson said Saturday. "We thought AECL (Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.) would make a serious attempt to keep this thing." AECL, a federal crown corporation, has announced it will close the underground lab at its Whiteshell complex at the end of June unless a last-minute buyer or tenant comes forward. Layoff notices have been issued to 25 employees. AECL would not say if there will be additional layoffs, but more are rumoured. About 45 people work in the lab. The lab was used to study the structure and properties of granite rock found deep in the ground, and how groundwater might flow through it, to determine whether it could be safely used to store nuclear waste. "There's no money available for us to operate it unless someone else comes along," AECL spokesperson Ian Dovey said in a telephone interview from Mississauga, where AECL has headquarters. Ontario Power Generation, which provided 70 per cent of research funding at the Pinawa site, has pulled out. OPG, formerly called Ontario Hydro, said it has gone as far as it can with research there. Manitoba Mines Minister MaryAnn Mihychuk has appealed to Ottawa to postpone the decision but has yet to receive a reply to her letter to federal Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal. Mihychuk said the province needs more time to find a solution. "(The closing) was decided very rapidly, with no transition time for us. We think it's unfair." She said AECL president Robert Van Adel told her six months ago that AECL did not want to pursue selling the lab because it is too valuable an asset. "Then suddenly six months later, we get notice that the whole thing is going to be shut down," Mihychuk said. |