Uh-oh... ANOTHER nuclear power, this one in Latin America

with neighbor, brazil, heading rapidly toward energy self-sufficiency, and global petroleum reserves in decline and often in dispute, argentina's not going to sit idly by...

The government yesterday pulled its nuclear industry out of mothballs with a plan that sees some $3.5 billion dollars being invested in developing this sector over the next eight years.

At an event in Government House headed by President Néstor Kirchner, Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido emphasized that the projects to be started will be used for peaceful purposes such as public health and electricity generation.

The plan calls for construction to resume on the country’s third nuclear station, Atucha II, begun over 25 years ago, that will require an investment of 1.8 billion pesos.

Atucha II is expected to add a further 745 megawatts of electricity to the national grid. Although Atucha II will have priority, the government will also carry out a feasibility study to build a fourth nuclear reactor with a capacity of 1,000 megawatts.

With declining oil and gas reserves brought on by a lack of investment in recent years, analysts have been warning of an impending energy crunch in the wake of high economic growth rates that have averaged about nine percent a year in the last three years.

The government also announced that work has begun to extend the life of the Embalse Río Tercero nuclear power plant, built in the 1970s. After a 25-year hiatus the government will also reactivate the Pilcaniyeu uranium enrichment plant, closed in 1983 because it operated at a loss.

A heavy water plant in the province of Neuquén, that has also sat idle for years, will also be started up to produce the 600 tons of heavy water that Atucha II will require to operate.

on both the going and the return trip to bariloche last week, i drove by the heavy water plant in neuquén province... it looks to be a sizeable operation... all this flurry around energy generation will undoubtedly increase employment opportunities in the regions affected... from another angle, i am curious to see if the u.s. government and/or media will take any notice... the items of potential interest to george's neocon buddies are in bold...

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