“Significant progress,” the company said, had been made in “modernising essential systems and optimising key processes. This work will ensure that, once the refurbishment is complete, Atucha I continues to operate safely and efficiently, strengthening the contribution of nuclear energy as a base energy source for the country’s development”.
Atucha I, a 362 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor, entered commercial operation in 1974 and had a design life in its operating licence of 32 equivalent years of full power. The life extension project is seen as one of Argentina’s most significant infrastructure projects.
The first extension to its operating licence began in 2018 when the original 32-year mark was reached.
The duration of the amended operating licence was for the equivalent of 5 years operation at full power, or 10 years from 2014, which ended on 29 September 2024, which is when the current planned 30-month shutdown began.
Nucleoeléctrica Argentina put the refurbishment programme’s cost at USD463 million in 2023 when it launched a fundraising round of bond sales to cover the LTO (long term operation) cost and construction of a dry storage facility for used fuel.
Background
Atucha I was designed and built by KWU, which was a joint venture of Germany’s Siemens and AEG. Over time, KWU was fully owned by Siemens, before being sold to the reactor business of France’s Areva which is now owned by EDF and trading as Framatome. However, Argentina now has an experienced supply chain of its own for pressurised heavy water reactors, having completed and brought into operation the similar Atucha II reactor in 2016.
It has become common for pressurised heavy water reactors like Atucha I to undergo refurbishment, which typically involves replacing pressure tubes and fuel channels, to enable another two decades of operation. Nucleoeléctrica Argentina said ahead of the shutdown that 2,000 jobs would be created as it modernised “all the processes and systems of the plant”.
