Minister says country planning fourth nuclear plant

Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Argentina's government is planning to develop a fourth nuclear plant, planning minister Julio de Vido said.

While the location of the plant was not revealed, construction could begin in less than a year, state news agency Télam reported.

Works at the country's third nuclear plant, the 700MW Atucha II facility, are on track for a 2011 operational startup.

Construction at Atucha II originally started in the 1980's but was suspended until government authorities decided to relaunch the project in 2006.

Argentina's state nuclear generation company Nucleoeléctrica Argentina (NA-SA) currently operates the 648MW Embalse and 357MW Atucha I reactors in Argentina.

Nuclear power accounted for 7.6% of the country's generation mix in March, according to power consultancy Fundelec.