The Surging News reporter Yang Yang
The Paper learned from CNNC that on February 1, China's independent third-generation nuclear power Hualong I relayed the good news: Argentina Nuclear Power Company and CNNC, as well as CNNC China Zhongyuan and China Zhongyuan Argentina Branch officially signed a contract for the design, procurement and construction of the Atucha III nuclear power plant project in Argentina.
According to the general contracting agreement, CNNC will build a Hualong No. 1 pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant for Argentina in the form of a "turnkey" model through the general contracting of the project. Cooperation in nuclear power projects is an important part of the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Argentina, and 2022 marks the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Arab countries. As early as 1985, the Chinese and Arab governments signed the Agreement on the Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy. CNNC, led by China Zhongyuan, has deepened the cultivation of the Argentine market and promoted the development of the project, and the Sino-Arab nuclear science and technology workers have worked together to promote the agreement of the general contracting contract.
Each Hualong No. 1 machine assembly machine has a capacity of up to 1.2 million kilowatts and an annual power generation capacity of nearly 10 billion kWh, which can meet the annual production and living electricity needs of 1 million people in medium-developed countries. CNNC said that as the "national business card" of mainland nuclear power to the world, Hualong No. 1 is one of the three-generation nuclear motor models with the highest acceptance in the current nuclear power market. At present, Hualong No. 1 has successfully completed and put into operation the world's first Fuqing No. 5 unit and the first overseas Reactor Karachi No. 2 unit in Pakistan and maintained safe and stable operation; Fuqing No. 6 unit has been connected to the grid for power generation. In addition, Hualong No. 1 has been mass-built in Zhangzhou, Fujian, Hainan, Changjiang and other places in China.
According to the Argentine nuclear power company, the Artucha III nuclear power plant is expected to invest a total of $8 billion and will create more than 7,000 jobs. After the signing of the turnkey contract, the conditions predetermined by the contract will continue to be met, including the authorization of the competent authorities of the two countries and the relevant agreements on financial and technological transfer. The Argentine Embassy in Beijing said that according to the contract, the project will start by the end of this year.
"Hualong-1 is not only a major achievement in China's nuclear power development, but also a third-generation nuclear power preferred solution that China has contributed to Argentina and the world." At the signing ceremony, Yu Jianfeng, chairman of CNNC, said that CNNC will give full play to the advantages of the whole industrial chain, work closely with the Afghan side, safely and efficiently promote the construction of the Attucha No. 3 nuclear power plant project, and build it into a model project and benchmark project for Sino-Arab nuclear energy cooperation.
The governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Kishilov, and the president of the Argentine Nuclear Power Company, Antunes, unanimously said that nuclear energy cooperation will play an increasingly important role in developing the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries, and the construction of the Atucha-3 nuclear power plant project Hualong No. 1 unit will bring clean, reliable and sustainable ki-Holland energy to Argentina, contribute to the response to climate change, and help strengthen the close relationship between the two countries in the peaceful development of nuclear power, nuclear science and technology and industry.
Argentina's nuclear industry began in the 1950s. As the first Latin American country to develop civilian nuclear energy technology, Argentina currently has three nuclear power plants, Atucha I, Embalse and Atucha II, all of which use heavy water reactor (PHWR) nuclear power technology, providing nearly 5% of the country's electricity supply. But from a global perspective, light water reactors have always been the mainstream reactor type in the development of nuclear power in the world.
In 2009, Argentina decided to build a new nuclear power plant in order to revitalize the nuclear industry, meet energy supply needs, and adjust the energy mix. Since 2010, CNNC has carried out nuclear energy exchanges with the Argentine side and actively developed the Argentine nuclear power market.
In February 2015, the Chinese and Arab governments signed the Agreement on Cooperation in the Construction of Pressurized Water Reactor Nuclear Power Plants in Argentina, marking the landing of Hualong 1 in the Latin American nuclear power market. On this basis, in November 2015, CNNC and the Argentine Nuclear Power Company signed a framework contract for the pressurized water reactor project.
However, the progress of the above projects has been deeply affected by the regime change in Argentina. Until May 2017, during the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, CNNC and the Argentine Nuclear Power Company signed a general contract for the construction of the fourth and fifth nuclear power plants in Argentina. According to the agreement between the two sides, the construction of a 700,000-kilowatt CANDU-6 heavy water reactor nuclear power unit using Canadian technology will be started in 2018, and the construction of a one-million-kilowatt Hualong-1 pressurized water reactor nuclear power unit will be started in 2020.
In December 2019, Fernandez was officially inaugurated as President of Argentina. Since then, the country has sought to be the first to start up nuclear power plants using Chinese technology.
According to the information disclosed by the Argentine Embassy in China in April 2021, the relevant leaders of argentina and China's energy sector held a video conference to further promote the construction process of Argentina's fourth nuclear power plant. Argentina's Secretary of State for Energy, Dario Martinez, said at the meeting that the fourth nuclear power plant project has fully received strong support from president Fernandez of the country and has been included in the list of priority cooperation projects between China and Argentina. According to the news, the "Atucha 3" project is a nuclear power plant using Chinese technology "Hualong 1", located in the Atucha nuclear power plant in Lima, Buenos Aires. The project finance will be undertaken by a group of Chinese banks led by the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, with a loan amount of about US$8 billion, which will cover 85% of the cost of the nuclear power unit. The project is expected to provide more than 7,000 direct jobs.
Artucha factory site
In June 2021, the Argentine government issued the Argentine Nuclear Power Action Plan, and the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant project became an integral part of the plan. In an interview with Perfil daily in August last year, The Argentine nuclear power company president Antunes said that Hualong Unit 1 will start construction at the Artucha site as soon as 2022. He revealed that the Argentine nuclear power company's previous plan was to build a new heavy water reactor in Artucha with the support of the Chinese side, and the timetable for the construction of the Hualong 1 PWR nuclear power unit has been put forward. The location of the new CANDU heavy water reactor project has not yet been determined, possibly at or near the Artucha site.
According to the news released by CNNC on February 1, the Chinese Embassy in Argentina, relevant government departments and enterprises in Argentina, the State Atomic Energy Agency of China, the Export-Import Bank of China, the China Development Bank, the Comprehensive Department, the Strategic Planning Department, the Safety and Environmental Protection Department, the Operation and Management Department, the Finance Department, the Industrial Development and International Cooperation Department, the Audit and Legal Affairs Department, and the relevant responsible persons of China Atomic Energy Corporation, China Nuclear Construction, China Nuclear Engineering, Nuclear Power Institute, and China Zhongyuan attended the event.
Editor-in-Charge: Li Yuequn