OREANDA-NEWS. August 12, 2015. International Network held a workshop dedicated to Russian modern nuclear technologies and the latest decisions in the nuclear sphere.  The workshop took place in one of the oldest universities in Latin America - Engineering Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The presentations at the workshop were made by representatives of the leading companies in Russian nuclear industry, which are actively operating in the foreign market: the United company ASE-NIAEP-AEP, Rusatom Overseas Inc, TVEL, Science and Innovations, Federal Center for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (JSC FCNRS), Uranium One, United Innovation Corporation. From Argentinian side the seminar was attended by heads and representatives of the leading enterprises and institutions of Argentina’s nuclear industry, including the President of the National Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA), top managers of Nucleoelectrica Argentina, INVAP, Corporacion America, and the Engineering Faculty of the University of Buenos Aires. In total, the seminar was attended by more then 120 people.

The extraordinary and plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the Argentinian Republic Victor Koronelli and Russia's Trade Representative in the Republic of Argentna Sergey Derkach opened the event with the greeting word. In particular, Victor Koronelli noted that this year we celebrate 130 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations between our countries, and it is noteworthy that this year we signed a memorandum defining the framework for cooperation between the parties for construction in Argentine Republic of the 6th nuclear power unit based on Russian technology. The ambassador positively estimated the progress of the ongoing negotiations on the preparation an appropriate intergovernmental agreement for the construction a new power unit in Argentina and has expressed confidence in signing it in the nearest future. The Rector of the University of Buenos Aires, Alberto Barbieri in his welcome speech noticed that the Faculty of Engineering and Rosatom have established good partnership and Rosatom for more than 2 years has been paying great significance to the development of joint scientific and educational projects. And this workshop specifically indicates strengthening of relations between two institutions as well as between our countries in the sphere of peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

The seminar was dedicated to Russian experience in application and development of nuclear technologies and solutions on a wide range of areas. CEO of “Rosatom America Latina ” S. Krivolapov presented a report, dedicated to competitive advantages of Rosatom in an international market and regional expertise, marking main goals of Rosatom’s office in Latin America. Representatives of JSC “Rusatom Overseas Inc” presented integrated proposal of Rosatom to construct new NPP, and most effective financial decisions, applied by Rosatom in the construction NPP abroad.

The representatives of the United company ASE-NIAEP-AEP presented reports about the newest decisions, applied by Rosatom in the sphere of engineering and NPP construction, radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel management (as well the competences of Rosatom in the construction and operation of facilities for the storage and processing of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel), back-end management and decommissioning services, the experience of Rosatom in the sphere of working out projects and the construction of the research reactors.
The point of high interest was presentation about evolution of VVER technology, security aspects and new technologies, applied in the construction of generation III+ projects as well as references of ROSATOM in licensing.

Within the workshop participants were able to get acquainted with the advanced technologies which applied in the construction of complex engineering objects, in particular management of Multi-D projects. This technology is one of the competitive advantages of Rosatom in the world market, the use of this technology reduces the timeframe of design, construction works with the simultaneous increase in labor productivity, quality of work and safety at nuclear power engineering facilities, as well as leads to the project cost reduction. Multi-D technology helps Rosatom to achieve a high efficiency and stability of such important indicators as terms, quality and budget.
 
High interest was expressed to the experience of Rosatom in radiation technologies as well as applied solutions in the field of nuclear medicine, water purification and desalination of sea water. Also presentations about localization, cooperation in the fuel supply, uranium mining and processing were very interesting for the audience.
 
Within the program of the seminar the top managers of Argentinian companies presented their reports. Among them, speakers of NA-SA and CNEA presented main characteristics of national atomic programme and perspectives in construction new NPPs in the country. There were noted several requirements from Argentinian side that refer to new NPP construction and nuclear fuel supply, such as localization opportunities, cooperation in NPP operation and training personnel.

For reference:

On 23rd of April 2015, the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Argentina had signed the Memorandum of Understanding, defining the Framework for cooperation for Cooperation between the parties in the field of construction the 6th power unit with water-cooled energetic reactor (VVER) of Russian design with installed capacity to 1,200 MW on the territory of the Republic of Argentina. Furthermore, the fuel company TVEL signed two Memorandum of Understanding with the National Atomic Energy Commission of Argentina and the State Corporation of Rio Negro province (Republic of Argentina) INVAP. These documents provide cooperation and joint initiatives on a wide range of issues of cooperation in the field of nuclear energy, including deliveries of low-enriched uranium fuel and its components for the research and power reactors in Argentina, supplies of TVEL-manufactured zirconium components of the nuclear fuel cycle, and joint research and development projects.
The contract for the regular supplies of the Russian Mo-99 to Argentina was concluded on 26 of May 2013. On June 12 of 2013 the first delivery of Mo-99 was made under this contract, now deliveries are made weekly.
On June 19, 2014 a Memorandum of Cooperation between the Rosatom International Network and the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Buenos Aires was signed, involving the cooperation of the parties in the implementation of joint projects in the field of science and education, as well as potential business projects.