Nuclear power in Argentina

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Nuclear power stations in Argentina (view)
 Active plants
 Under construction

In Argentina, about 10% [1] of the electricity comes from 3 operational nuclear reactors: Embalse, a CANDU reactor, and Atucha I and II, two PHWR German designs.

In 2001, the Atucha plant was modified to burn Slightly Enriched Uranium, making it the first PHWR reactor to burn that fuel worldwide.[citation needed] Atucha was originally planned to be a complex with various reactors. Atucha 2 (similar to Atucha 1 but more powerful) began to produce energy on June 3, 2014, and it is expected to produce 745MWh[clarification needed]. Plans for Atucha III, a third reactor in the Atucha complex, have been announced.[2]

Argentina also has various research reactors,[3] and exports nuclear technology. Nucleoeléctrica of Argentina and Atomic Energy of Canada Limited are negotiating over the contracts and project delivery model for a new 740 MWe CANDU  nuclear power plant.[4]

In July 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement with Argentine President Cristina Fernández Kirchner, during a visit to the country.[5]

In February 2015, Argentine president Cristina Kirchner and Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping signed a cooperation agreement, and the build of a Hualong One design power station has been proposed.[6][7]

In December 2015 a new uranium enrichment plant to manufacture fuel for Argentina's nuclear plants, located in Pilcaniyeu, was inaugurated. The plant will use both gaseous diffusion and more modern laser techniques.[8]

China and Argentina had agreed a contract to build a 700 MWe CANDU 6 derived reactor. Its construction was planned to start in 2018 at Atucha,[9][10] but it was indefinitely suspended by Mauricio Macri's government due to financial issues.[11] The building of a 1000 MWe Hualong One plant is planned to start in 2020.[10]

Reactors

Commercial

This section is an excerpt from List of commercial nuclear reactors § Argentina.[edit]
Plant
name 		Unit
No. 		Type Model Status Capacity
(MW) 		Begin
building 		Commercial
operation 		Closed
Atucha[12] 1 PHWR Siemens-KWU Operational 335 1 Jun 1968 24 Jun 1974
2 PHWR Siemens-KWU Operational 692 14 Jul 1981 27 Jun 2014
3 PWR Hualong One Planned[13] 1200
Embalse[14] 1 PHWR CANDU-6 Operational 600 1 Apr 1974 20 Jan 1984 (2049)[15]
CAREM 1 PWR CAREM25 Under construction 25 8 Feb 2014

Research reactors

Name[16] Reactor type Status Capacity in kWt Construction start date First criticality date Closure Operator and owner
RA-0 Tank Operational 0.01 January 1954 1 January 1965 National University of Córdoba
RA-1 Enrico Fermi Tank Operational 40 April 1957 20 January 1958 National Atomic Energy Commission
RA-2 Critical assembly Decommissioned 0.03 January 1965 1 July 1966 23 September 1983a National Atomic Energy Commission
RA-3 Pool Operational 10,000 February 1963 17 May 1967 National Atomic Energy Commission
RA-4 HOMOG Operational 0.001 January 1971 1 January 1972 National University of Rosario
RA-6 Pool Operational 3,000 September 1978 23 September 1982 National Atomic Energy Commission
RA-8 Critical assembly Temporary Shutdown 0.01 January 1986 16 June 1997 2001 National Atomic Energy Commission
RA-10 Under construction 30,000 March 2016 (late 2023) National Atomic Energy Commission

Legislation

Provinces that have banned the construction of nuclear power plants are:[17]

Chaco

  • Provincial Law, Nº 3902
    • Article 1: Declare the territory of the Chaco Province nuclear-free zone.

Corrientes

  • Provincial Law, Nº 4207
    • Article 1: Prohibits throughout the territory of the Corrientes Province, installing nuclear plants.

Entre Ríos

  • Provincial Law, Nº 8785
    • Article 3: It is forbidden the installation of nuclear power plants

La Pampa

  • Provincial Constitution
    • Article 18: La Pampa is declared a nuclear-free zone, to the extent determined by a special law in order to preserve the environment. Any damage it causes to the environment will generate liability under the applicable legal regulations or as may be provided.[18]

Río Negro

  • Provincial Law, Nº 5227
    • Article 1: It is forbidden in the territory of the Province of Río Negro the installation of nuclear power generation plants.

San Luis

  • Provincial Law, Nº 5567
    • Article 1: Declare the territory of the San Luis Province a nuclear-free zone.

Santa Fe

  • Provincial Law, Nº 10753
    • Article 1: It is forbidden in the Santa Fe Province, the installation of plants and/or temporary or permanent nuclear deposits.
    • Article 3: Declare the Santa Fe Province a nuclear-free zone.

Tierra del Fuego

  • Provincial Constitution
    • Article 56: It is forbidden in the Province. 1 - Conducting tests or nuclear tests of any kind for military purposes. 2 - Generation of energy from nuclear sources. 3 - Introduction and disposal of nuclear, chemical, biological waste or any other type or nature proven to be toxic, hazardous or potentially in the future.[19]

Tucumán

  • Provincial Law, Nº 6253
    • Article 47: It is forbidden in the province: b) Generate energy from nuclear sources until the international scientific community works out an appropriate treatment for nuclear waste.

See also

Notes

^a Dismantled 1984-1989 after a criticality accident. Fuel removed to the United States in 2007.

References

  1. ^ "Atucha 2 reaches 100% rated power". WNN. 19 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Una nueva central nuclear, 30 años después". 29 September 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2011.
  3. ^ https://inis.iaea.org/collection/NCLCollectionStore/_Public/36/018/36018102.pdf?r=1 [bare URL PDF]
  4. ^ "Canada, Argentina and China to cooperate on Candu projects". World Nuclear News. 5 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  5. ^ "Russia moves to support Argentina through new debt crisis". Argentina News.Net. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
  6. ^ "Hualong One selected for Argentina". World Nuclear News. 5 February 2015. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  7. ^ Charlie Zhu and David Stanway (6 March 2015). "'Made in China' nuclear reactors a tough sell in global market". Reuters. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
  8. ^ "Argentina resumes uranium enrichment". Nuclear Engineering International. 2 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  9. ^ "Argentina-China talks on new nuclear plants". World Nuclear News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Argentina and China sign contract for two reactors". World Nuclear News. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  11. ^ Cronista.com. "Suspenden la construcción las centrales nucleares financiadas por China 'hasta un mejor momento fiscal'". El Cronista (in Spanish). Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  12. ^ "Nuclear Power in Argentina | Argentinian Nuclear Energy – World Nuclear Association". world-nuclear.org. Retrieved 4 August 2019.
  13. ^ "China inks $8 bln nuclear power plant deal in Argentina". Reuters. 2 February 2022. Retrieved 2 February 2022.
  14. ^ Yulia Kosarenko. "NASA fact sheet". Archived from the original on 8 July 2007. Retrieved 20 August 2015.
  15. ^ "BNamericas – The Embalse Nuclear Power Plant returns to s..." BNamericas.com.
  16. ^ "Breve historia de los reactores nucleares de investigación y producción de la CNEA" (PDF) (in Spanish). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 December 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  17. ^ Legislation map
  18. ^ La Pampa Constitution
  19. ^ Tierra del Fuego Constitution
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