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Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. can't seem to get a break.

Its reactor leaks. Its projects are overdue. No one seems keen on its cutting-edge technology - at least not as much as they were a few years ago.

In May, shortly after Chalk River's latest problems appeared, Ottawa put AECL's future into the hands of N.M. Rothschild and Sons, which is to deliver a restructuring plan and financial advice this fall.

Can AECL be sold off wholesale? In pieces? The most pressing question, says Bryne Purchase, a professor of public policy at Queen's University, is whether there will be anything the private sector will be interested in buying.

"Aside from the refurbishment business, which doesn't seem to be going that well anyway, what could you possibly be privatizing? ... There's nothing to sell. There's no business."

The Crown corporation, threatened with restructuring for years, finally seems primed to be taken off Ottawa's hands and transferred, in some form, to the private sector.

But Prof. Purchase, a former deputy minister in the Ontario Finance Ministry, says it may not be that easy to find a company willing to shoulder the risk.

"You'd almost have to give this thing away. … The risks are going to have to be underwritten by governments."

Concerns about what a restructured AECL would look like, along with the multi-billion-dollar sticker shock attached to AECL's bid on a pair of new reactors at Ontario's Darlington site, were enough to make the province shelve new nuclear projects for the foreseeable future last month.

AECL is behind schedule and over budget on projects it already has under way refurbishing reactors at Point Lepreau in New Brunswick and Bruce Power's Ontario generators.

On top of all this, the company is getting what may be the most publicity of its 64-year lifetime courtesy of the Chalk River NRU reactor, which was taken offline in late May when a heavy water leak was discovered. The ensuing isotope shortage has caused global consternation.

Bruce Power, Canada's leading private nuclear-energy company, is a major AECL client. Its president Duncan Hawthorne has made clear Bruce is taking an active interest in the Crown corporation's restructuring - possibly going as far as to purchase part of a reorganized company.

"We haven't ruled anything out," he said. "No doubt there'll be some kind of request for proposals and we'll decide whether we want to participate."

But Mr. Hawthorne said AECL has a long way to go to make itself viable and competitive in the private marketplace.

"It needs to be commercialized, it needs a different management style, it needs to change its position in the market. … And I think the government recognized that."

Continuing problems with AECL's repair projects on its reactors don't inspire confidence in potential future clients, Mr. Hawthorne said.

"If you look at a house builder you wouldn't want to see him being late and over budget in a house across the street."

This puts even more pressure on AECL to deliver on its repair work at Chalk River, which has already been pushed back multiple times - from one month to three, then to six and now to a potential 10 months through March, 2010.

Robin Forbes, AECL's external communications manager, said the company views the pending restructuring as a positive thing and hopes to build on its track record delivering nuclear power generators.

Dominic Ryan, president of the Canadian Institute for Neutron Scattering, which does its research at Chalk River, said if the company wants to bolster confidence in its viability, it has to get the aging NRU up and running quickly.

"It can't leak again, because they're finished. … There's too much of the corporate face invested in doing this.

"If they fail there, they're toast and they know it."

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