A University of Ottawa scientist is worried about what the city's light rail trains passing by will do to millions of dollars of research equipment.

As the manager of the school's Nuclear Magnetic Resonance laboratories, Glenn Facey looks after some $6 million in high-powered magnetic equipment used by chemists to find out the physical and chemical properties of atoms and molecules.

Six of his eight spectrometers are in laboratories that overlook what used to be the Transitway and in 2018, what will become the uOttawa station for the city's light rail line.

Facey said heavy, metal trains running on electrical power could generate magnetic fields that "blur" the results coming out of his research equipment.

"I'm very concerned. We have 120 users, we're a very high-profile chemistry department in Canada… without that equipment that essentially puts chemists out of business for a while," he said in an interview Wednesday.

"We obviously have to find some way to keep the equipment operational. There's no major chemistry department in Canada that does not have equipment like this, so we couldn't operate without this equipment."

Tests ongoing

The school and the city are working to figure out what magnetic fields there are on campus right now so they can track the light rail line's impact, said Sean Kirkwood, who works in risk management at the university.

Kirkwood built a device to measure magnetic fields using his child's hula hoop, wiring from a 33-inch TV and aluminum foil. The university and the city contractors have also been conducting their own tests.

uOttawa's Sean Kirkwood built this device to measure magnetic fields around campus from a hula hoop, television wires and aluminium foil. (Andrew Foote/CBC)

"This is part of the risk management is asking the question 'could it [have an impact] and if so, what could we do ahead of that?" he said.

Facey said the city is going to do a mock train pass-by to simulate the magnetic fields that will be made, then do some dry runs with empty trains to further examine their effect.

Change rail line or move labs

Councillor Stephen Blais, chair of the city's Transit Commission, said the university is one of the stakeholders that meets with the city about light rail so there's room to work together about any concerns they have.

Transit Commission chair Stephen Blais says the city has worked with the CBC and NAC over concerns about what light rail construction and trains will do to their equipment. (CBC)

"There are different methods of construction and what you put in the tunnel to reduce the noise and vibration coming off the trains to try and ensure the sensitive sound equipment at the CBC or if the [National Arts Centre] orchestra is playing, that they don't have some kind of train sound," he said.

"The constructors have been very open to discussing with those groups their needs and implementing those provisions."

Facey said it's possible they could change the way the light rail line's electrical system works to help, or they may just have to move the machines — which would take a month and cost $40,000 each.

"The options would be to move the laboratories if we had to, [or] if the city could come up with mitigation measures to shield the magnetic fields on the train like a different electrical design that may minimize the magnetic fields, that may be sufficient," he said.

"At this point we just don't know."

In an email statement, the University of Ottawa said it's still gathering information and data so it's too early to know what will have to be done or who would pay for it.