Nucleoelectrica Argentina SA (Nasa) is the state company that manages and operates the country’s three nuclear power plants: the two Atucha in Buenos Aires and the Embalse in Cordoba, in Calamuchita. Luis Fasanella has been the president of the company since he took over the Government of Javier Milei and days ago he visited the Embalse plant.
On that occasion, he assured in dialogue with The voice the continuity of the Argentine nuclear energy plan and maintained that the construction of the fourth plant is in “standby”, waiting among other issues due to lack of financing. His investment is estimated at 8 billion dollars.
Regarding the central objective of this management in the state company, the official stated: “Keep the plants in operation and continue all the projects that are underway and in the pipeline, such as the life extension of Atucha 1, the dry storage project and the scheduled shutdowns of the plants, to continue ensuring clean, safe and competitively priced energy.”
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The electrical engineer who spent 15 years in the holding company Corporación América, before being appointed to Nucleoeléctrica, stressed that the life extension experience carried out years ago at the Embalse plant will provide the opportunity to “sell” one’s own knowledge. “It is a process that all Candú-type plants in the world have ahead of them, so we are facing the very real possibility of exporting our services, not only because of the knowledge of the people but also because of different tools that were used,” he stated. .
-Are you satisfied with the degree of efficiency of the Embalse plant?
-Yeah. They are very committed people, the human capital is very good. We are motivated to achieve excellence, improve the plant or availability factor and as part of this objective we intend to extend the period of scheduled stops. Instead of doing it every 18 months, take it to 24, based on experience and operational improvements, under the approval of the new maintenance plans of the ARN. This would improve our plant factor.
Fasanella explained that the Calamuchita plant delivers 3% of the total national interconnected system and that between the three Argentine atomic plants they produce between 7 and 8% of the national energy today.
“We have more than 1,700 megabytes installed and at this moment the three plants are operational,” he clarified.
In fact, when one goes out of service due to a scheduled shutdown, that index decreases proportionally.
The Embalse Nuclear Power Plant (CNE) already has a date for the next scheduled shutdown: it will begin around August 5 and will last for nine weeks.
In its normal operation, 983 people work, a figure that doubles in the “stops”, when the plant paralyzes production to carry out a series of technical maintenance tasks, to comply with the international safety parameters imposed.
The fourth plant would cost 8 billion dollars
Regarding the construction project of a fourth plant, of Chinese origin, Fasanella recalled that the contract signed years ago is still valid, but “it is not being executed.”
He explained that for execution certain conditions must be met, such as technology transfer and financing, the most important of which are not agreed upon.
“There was no progress, but since the moment of signing, which was in February 2021, and the contract suffered several term extensions, the last one is until April 2025. In the ‘meanwhile’, progress will be made if they are given. the conditions, which are not met today, but there is no political decision to archive it,” he clarified.
He said that for it to come to fruition, “a strong political decision must be made by both governments, not only the Argentine, but also the Chinese, providing the financing contract.” He maintained that it is something that “transcends NASA.”
The main obstacle is obtaining the resources to build it, estimated at 8 billion dollars. “Without financing it is very complex to advance an investment of that size in the current reality of Argentina. Even the GDP is going to suffer a blow due to economic issues, with the adjustment of the entire macro and the efforts of all Argentines, and today it would not be a good capital-intensive project,” he concluded.
If it comes to fruition, it would be together with those of Atucha 1 and 2.
The privatization of nuclear power plants
The eventual privatization of the company that operates the nuclear power plants in Argentina, contemplated in the Base Law, is an issue of high impact on the communities where they are installed. At the reservoir plant there are almost a thousand workers from the entire area, and there are more than 3,000 in the universe of the Nasa company.
Fasanella’s visit to Embalse occurred one day before the treatment of the Bases Law in the Senate. Without definitions at that time, she avoided referring to what would be a hypothetical scenario.
After the passage of the norm by the Senate and in response to the consultation of that newspaper, the company highlighted that the eventual privatization contemplates that the majority package will remain in the hands of the National State and with this, control and core definitions. They clarified that the company is not loss-making. After YPF, it is the state company with the best economic results, they stated.
Currently, NASA’s capital is 100% of the National State and is divided between the Ministry of Economy of the Nation, which owns 79%, the National Atomic Energy Commission, with 20%; and Energía Argentina SA (Enarsa), which owns the remaining 1%.
If the privatization process advances, NASA assures that at least 51% of the capital will remain in the hands of the National State.
In detail, this expresses the draft Base Law, after approval in the Senate of the Nation, regarding NASA. It is worth clarifying that the initiative may still undergo modifications in Deputies.
“The plants must continue to belong to the State”
One of the unions that brings together workers at the plant, the Association of State Workers (ATE), expressed its concern about the company’s privatization project.
The Río Tercero sectional secretary general (which brings together Tercero Arriba and Calamuchita), David Salto, stated: “We have a position regarding energy sovereignty, for us nuclear power plants must continue to belong to the orbit of the State, we understand that the private sector does not “You can keep the energy producer, because we would lose energy sovereignty.”
The leader stressed that it is a key strategic activity for development and also highlighted that it is profitable. “It is a public limited company with state capital, which produces a surplus, is profitable and works very well, we do not understand why, handing over energy production to a private company,” he noted. And he highlighted that it is “one of the safest energies, which is developed with all the regulations and controls in force.
“We are against privatization, energy production cannot be left in the hands of a monopoly,” he stressed.
