Medical isotope production to be resumed

["Carlisle, Sara" <carlisles@aecl.ca>]

The following announcement was released by AECL, May 23, regarding the
end of the technologists' strike at Chalk River.

Sara M. Carlisle
Radiation Biology and Health Physics Branch
AECL, Chalk River Laboratories
Chalk River, ON K0J 1J0
Canada

phone (613) 584-8811 extn 3667
fax        (613) 584-1713
email   carlisles@aecl.ca



AECL's  Offers Ends Labour Dispute

Chalk River, Ontario May 23, 1998 - Atomic Energy of Canada Limited
(AECL) has been informed by Local 1568 of the United Steel Workers of
America that it will accept the company's offer of binding arbitration
to reach an agreement.  This action will end the labour dispute at
AECL's Chalk River Laboratories(CRL).

Paul Fehrenbach, Site Head at CRL, stated,  "We are very pleased that
the union decided to accept our offer of a binding arbitration as a
process to finalize a collective agreement.  We will restart the NRU
reactor as soon as we can.  We expect we will resume shipping
radioisotopes from CRL by early next week."

Medical radioisotopes produced at CRL are used extensively for medical
diagnostic procedures.  Nuclear medicine uses these substances, which
are injected, swallowed or inhaled, to locate cancers and to produce
diagnostic images of the body functions; for example, bone scans,
cardiac stress testing and lung scans.  AECL isotope production accounts
for over one-half of the world market for Molybdenum-99 - the most
widely used radioisotope - from its Chalk River Laboratories.

AECL is a federal Crown corporation owned by the federal government of
Canada.  AECL sells CANDU* power reactors, MAPLE research reactors,
MACSTOR(tm) waste storage systems and nuclear engineering services.
Since 1952, AECL has been the leading force helping Canada reach and
maintain its first-ranked position in nuclear power development.