Nuclear engineers, SNC's Candu reach contract deal

* Workers went on strike July 9

* They picketed Ontario nuclear plants briefly

Sept 11 (Reuters) - SNC-Lavalin Group Inc subsidiary Candu Energy said on Tuesday it has reached a memorandum of agreement on a new contract with its nuclear engineers, and they have returned to work.

About 850 members of the Society of Professional Engineers and Associates (SPEA) went on strike on July 9. The strike followed a five-week partial strike by 144 members. They had been working without a contract since Jan. 1, 2011.

The engineers became employees of SNC-Lavalin in October 2011, when the Canadian government sold off the commercial business of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd to a unit of SNC for C$15 million ($15.4 million) plus royalties.

The unit designs and assists with major repairs of Candu nuclear power plants around the world. On Aug. 15, the union set up picket lines outside Ontario's Candu reactors, delaying shift changes at the power plants.