2 Jun (NucNet): State-owned nuclear operator Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A. has been granted a licence to begin the commissioning phase of the Atucha-2 nuclear plant, the company said in a statement.
The statement said the next step in the commissioning process is to prepare the unit for first criticality.
Argentina’s minister of planning, public investment and services, Julio de Vido, said delivery of electrical energy to the national grid was expected to start in “less than 60 days”.
Pre-operational hot testing was successfully completed on the unit in April 2014, lasting 69 days and involving 175 tests.
Construction began on Atucha-2, a 692-megawatt pressurised heavy water reactor, in 1981 under a contract with Siemens, but progressed slowly and was officially suspended in 1994 due to lack of funds.
The project was revived in 2006, with a contract for completion signed with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited.
Atucha-2 will be Argentina’s third nuclear reactor unit. The others are Atucha-1, which began commercial operation in June 1974, and Embalse, which began commercial operation in January 1984. The existing two units generate almost 10 percent of the country’s electricity.
