Atucha II Nuclear Power Plant
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The Atucha Nuclear Complex, or Atucha Nuclear Power Plant, is the location for two adjacent
nuclear power plant A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ...
s in
Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
, Zárate,
Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...
, about from
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, on the right-hand shore of the Paraná de las Palmas River. Both are
pressurized heavy-water reactor A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor that uses heavy water ( deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. PHWRs frequently use natural uranium as fuel, but sometimes also use very low enriched uranium. The ...
s (PHWR) employing a mixture of
natural uranium Natural uranium (NU or Unat) refers to uranium with the same isotopic ratio as found in nature. It contains 0.711% uranium-235, 99.284% uranium-238, and a trace of uranium-234 by weight (0.0055%). Approximately 2.2% of its radioactivity comes ...
and
enriched uranium Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238U ...
(0.85% of 235U), and use heavy water for cooling and neutron moderation. The other currently operating nuclear power plant in the country
Embalse Nuclear Power Plant The Embalse Nuclear Power Station ( es, Central Nuclear Embalse) is one of three operational nuclear power plants in Argentina. It is located on the southern shore of a reservoir on the Río Tercero, near the city of Embalse, Córdoba, 110&nbs ...
is also a natural uranium fueled PHWR but of the Canadian
CANDU 6 The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide ( heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. C ...
type rather than the Siemens provided type used at Atucha.


Atucha I

Atucha I was started in 1968 and began operation in 1974; it was the first nuclear power plant in
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived ...
. On 25 March 1973, before its completion, the plant was temporarily captured by the People's Revolutionary Army who stole a
FMK-3 submachine gun The FMK-3 is a selective fire blowback-operated submachine gun of Argentine origin designed by Fabricaciones Militares in 1974. Around 30,000 were produced for the Argentine military by 1991. Development In the 1950s, the FMAP DM (Fábrica ...
and three .45 caliber handguns. When they retired they had a confrontation with the police, injuring two police officers. It has a thermal power of 1,179 MWth, and generates 357 MWe of electricity, which is delivered at 220 
kilovolts The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta (1745–1827). Defini ...
to the Argentine Interconnection System, supplying about 2.5% of the total electricity production (2005).


Atucha II

Atucha II is a
natural uranium Natural uranium (NU or Unat) refers to uranium with the same isotopic ratio as found in nature. It contains 0.711% uranium-235, 99.284% uranium-238, and a trace of uranium-234 by weight (0.0055%). Approximately 2.2% of its radioactivity comes ...
fueled reactor, which construction started in July 1981 under a contract with
Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', ''E ...
, but was halted in 1994. It was planned to have a much higher power (thermal power approx. 2,000 MW, electrical 750 MW) than Atucha I. At the time when it was started, it had the largest reactor pressure vessel of any nuclear power plant worldwide. The total cost as of 2006 was estimated at US$3.8 billion, or about $5500/kWe. Atucha II like Atucha I before it is one of only a handful of heavy water reactors of a type other than the
CANDU The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide ( heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. C ...
-type or the related
IPHWR The IPHWR (Indian Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor) is a class of Indian pressurized heavy-water reactors designed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The baseline 220 MWe design was developed from the CANDU based RAPS-1 and RAPS-2 reactors bu ...
-type ever built. Prior to the EPR it was the last nuclear power plant built by Siemens. Partly as a response to the energy shortage caused by natural gas crisis of 2004, the issue of Atucha II was taken up by the Argentine government. In 2005 President
Néstor Kirchner Néstor Carlos Kirchner (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2003 to 2007, Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, Secretary General of UNASUR and ...
signed a decree to reactivate the construction and pledged to finish it by 2009. New technicians were hired and a budget of about $120 million was requested for 2006. Eduardo Messi, president of Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A. (the firm in charge of the plant), told reporters that 93% of the components were either in storage or already installed. On 23 August 2006 the government announced the re-activation of the national nuclear programme, and updated its promise to finish Atucha II by 2010, devoting a total of 1,850 million pesos ($596/€466 million). The plant was slated to come online with an installed capacity of about 750 MW (3% of Argentina's total electric installed capacity). Atucha II was "pre-started" on 28 September 2011 by President
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and politician who has served as the Vice President of Argentina since 2019. She also served as the President o ...
and it was scheduled to start commercial service by mid-2013.By April 2014, it was, however, not yet connected to the grid. On 3 June 2014 reached its first criticality, and on 27 June 2014 began to produce energy. On 19 February 2015, the plant reached 100% power production for the first time, increasing the percentage of nuclear power in Argentina's
energy mix The energy mix is a group of different primary energy sources from which secondary energy for direct use - such as electricity - is produced. Energy mix refers to all direct uses of energy, such as transportation and housing, and should not be c ...
from 7% to 10%.


Atucha III

In February 2022, Argentina and the
China National Nuclear Corporation The China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC; ) is a state-owned enterprise founded in 1955 in Beijing. CNNC's president and vice-president are appointed by the Premier of the People's Republic of China. CNNC oversees all aspects of China's civ ...
agreed on an engineering, procurement, and construction contract for a
Hualong One The Hualong One ( zh , c=华龙一号 , p=Huálóng yī hào , l=China Dragon №1) is a Chinese Generation III pressurized water nuclear reactor jointly developed by the China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and the China National Nuclear C ...
nuclear power plant with a gross generation capacity of 1200 MWe, at a cost of about US$8 billion. Unlike the other two blocks the Hualong One is a
light water reactor The light-water reactor (LWR) is a type of thermal-neutron reactor that uses normal water, as opposed to heavy water, as both its coolant and neutron moderator; furthermore a solid form of fissile elements is used as fuel. Thermal-neutron react ...
- which would make it the first such reactor in the country - and thus needs a higher enriched fuel, requiring Argentina either to build up
uranium enrichment Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation. Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 ...
facilities or to import fuel for this reactor. The Hualong One is also not capable of
online refueling In nuclear power technology, online refuelling is a technique for changing the fuel of a nuclear reactor while the reactor is critical. This allows the reactor to continue to generate electricity during routine refuelling, and therefore improve t ...
but it is a much more powerful design than the other two blocks at Atucha and will have a higher
nameplate capacity Nameplate capacity, also known as the rated capacity, nominal capacity, installed capacity, or maximum effect, is the intended full-load sustained output of a facility such as a power station,
than the other two reactors combined.


See also

*
Nuclear energy in Argentina In Argentina, about 10% 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 t ...
*
National Atomic Energy Commission The National Atomic Energy Commission ( es, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, CNEA) is the Argentine government agency in charge of nuclear energy research and development. The agency was created on May 31, 1950, with the mission of dev ...
*
Embalse nuclear power plant The Embalse Nuclear Power Station ( es, Central Nuclear Embalse) is one of three operational nuclear power plants in Argentina. It is located on the southern shore of a reservoir on the Río Tercero, near the city of Embalse, Córdoba, 110&nbs ...
*
List of nuclear reactors A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to: People * List (surname) Organizations * List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America * SC Germania List, German rugby unio ...


References


External links

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Monografias.com
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{{Energy in Argentina Nuclear power stations in Argentina Science and technology in Argentina Heavy water reactors