Nucleoeléctrica Argentina director defends Atucha 3 deal

Monday, 23 May 2022

Estevez said that nuclear energy provides "predictability" to the national electricity system and said that since the signing of a technical-commercial contract with Chinese counterparts in February, they were currently working on the financing agreement.

Estevez added: "Nuclear energy is a source of extraordinary benefits within the framework of medium and long-term energy planning, which is why countries such as France, China, the United Arab Emirates and India continue to invest in said technology with very ambitious expansion plans."

He said that it was a "serious mistake" to think only in the short term when it came to costs "since the most expensive energy is the one that is not available when it is needed" - pointing to the soaring prices in Europe so far this year.

In his interview with Radio Perfil last week Gadano said that nuclear energy was important for Argentina and tackling climate change. He said that he had travelled to China 11 times in four years as part of negotiations but "we did not reach agreement".

He said that during his period in office - which lasted from 2015 to 2019 - "we began to lose enthusiasm for the model that implied indebting Argentina for a very large amount of money". The deal which had since been signed, was, he said "strange to me because the nuclear authorities have signed a commercial contract by which they undertake to build a nuclear power plant of Chinese origin and they do not have the financial contract", which left a weaker negotiating position.

In response, Estevez suggested the 11 trips undertaken by Gadano must have been "nuclear tourism" given the lack of progress made.

On the financing criticism, Estevez added: "How did he intend to reach a financial agreement without knowing what was going to be financed?"

The nuclear power plant, to be sited near Lima, about 100 kilometres north west of Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, will use China's Hualong One technology - the HPR1000 reactor, which will use enriched uranium as fuel and light water as coolant and moderator, with a rated gross power of 1200 MWe and an initial life of 60 years.

Hualong One is a third generation nuclear power plant jointly developed by China National Nuclear Corporation and the China General Nuclear Power group.

The development in Argentina will be the second outside China, following one in Karachi in Pakistan. The construction project is part of Argentina's nuclear action plan agreed in June, which involves an investment of more than USD8 billion.

Argentina's nuclear sector has three pressurised heavy water reactors with a total generating capacity of 1641 MWe across the Atucha 1, Atucha 2 and Embalse power plants.