Argentina affirms China-backed nuclear energy plan

OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2016. Argentina has reaffirmed a plan to build two new nuclear power stations backed by China, part of a wider campaign to wipe out chronic rationing and blackouts stemming from a generation shortfall during periods of peak demand.

Argentina's energy minister Juan Jose Aranguren and the director of China's National Energy Administration, Nur Bekri, signed a new preliminary agreement on 29 June in Beijing that calls for the construction of the South American country's fourth and fifth nuclear power plants.

The Argentinian government, led by President Mauricio Macri, had said it was reviewing details of the Chinese-backed nuclear energy plans that it inherited from the previous administration. Those plans valued at \\$15bn entailed two greenfield power stations totaling 1.75GW of installed capacity.

Under the new agreement, the two countries pledged to accelerate negotiations with the objective of launching construction of the first plant, featuring a heavy-water reactor, in first quarter 2017, and the second plant, which would operate on light water and slightly enriched uranium, in 2019.

Argentina has three heavy-water nuclear plants, including a new 745MW plant in Lima, Buenos Aires province, built near a 357MW nuclear plant. The country also runs a 648MW plant in Embalse, Cordoba, which is undergoing an overhaul to raise capacity to 683MW.

According to the earlier preliminary agreement signed by the then-outgoing Argentinian administration in November 2015, China's ICBC bank would finance 85pc of the construction of a 750MW plant that would cost \\$5.99bn. Financial details on a second proposed plant with 1,000MW of capacity were not defined.

Former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's administration had also signed a preliminary agreement with Russia to design and build a 1,200MW nuclear plant. The government has yet to confirm whether this project will move forward, but Russia's ambassador to Argentina expressed optimism in April that there would be progress before year's end.

Earlier this month, Argentina awarded power purchase agreements totaling 1,915MW in a thermal power auction. The government is currently in the early stages of launching a renewable energy tender.

Most of Argentina's installed generating capacity is based on natural gas-fired thermal plants that accounted for 63pc of 136,870GWh of generation last year, followed by hydro with 30pc and nuclear with 5pc, according to wholesale electricity administrator Cammesa.

Power demand in the country soared by 8.5pc to 11.3TWh in May, compared to the same month last year, energy think tank Fundelec says.

In the first five months of the year, electricity demand increased by 3.2pc to 56.2TWh.