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Nuclea.r Power Comes of Age in Latin America
BRAZIL
Angra 1- Brazil's fi rst nuclear
power plan t- was supplied by the
United States. T his 626-mega–
watt West inghouse reactor was
due to come into service later this
year. Bu t var ious delays have
moved that date back to mid-
1981.
Those delays included deal ing
with soil problems around the
foundation of the reactor, as well as
numerous incidentsofsabotage. In
one case, a one-ton concrete block
was deliberately dropped onto the
power station's dome . In another,
arson caused $U.S . 10 million
wort h of damage.
The fi rst in the series of West
German reactors being supplied
to Brazil is known as Angra Il. I t
was i ni t ially expected to begin
working in 1982. But after nu–
merous postponements, it is now
not expected to come ..on
s tream" until 1987.
Ang ra 1 a nd Angra 11 are
located at ltaorna beach in Ang ra
dos Reís, 100 miles south of Río
de J anei ro. This is also to be tbe
site for Angra 111. Work on that
plant has not yet begun .
ARGENTINA
Currentl y, t he onl y operati ng
nuclear power plant in Latí n
America is in Argentina.
lt
is
a nd West Germa ny has been
widely criticized . Wa shing ton,
especia lly, has expressed fears
that the deal could ultimately
lead t o th e ma nufacture o f
a tomic weapons by Brazil. U.S.
intell igencc reports have hinted
t ha t Brazil intends to test a
nuclear device in the near fu–
tu re.
In 1977, U.S. Vice President
Fritz Mondale Aew to Bono in an
unsuccessful attempt to block the
sale of German fue! reprocessing
know-how to Brazi l. The Car ter
Adminis t rat ion s t rong ly urged
Bonn to cancel the contract. But
the West Germans understand–
ably refused .
Brazil 's nuclear prog ram is
August 1980
t he 374-megawatt Atucha 1
plant outside of Buenos Ai res,
which went into service in 1974.
1t
now provides approximately
1O percent of Argentina's elec–
tr ical energy.
T he West German-designed
Atucha 1 is fueled by natural,
rather than enriched , urani um.
lt
has the d istinction of being
rated the world 's most effi cient
nuclear power plan t.
A rgen ti na's second nuclear
plant, slated to start up in 1982,
is under construction at Embalse
Río Tercero. It is the 636-mega–
watt Candu reactor suppl ied by
Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
Argent ina's third plan t- the
700-megawatt Atuc ha 11- and
subsequent reactors will be sup–
plied by West Germany' s Kraft–
werke Union (KWU) under the
terms of the recently announced
bi lateral deal.
The heavy water plant recently
contracted for by Argentina (see
article) is to be constructed at
Arroyito in Neuquén province near
the Andes mountains southwest of
Buenos Aires. The plant is report–
edly capable of producing 250 tons
of heavy water ayear.
Heavy water is techni call y
called deuterium oxide
( 0
2
0). It
is sometimes used as a moderator
moving forwa rd in earnest (see
accompa nying box for deta ils) .
Meanwhile, fea rs g row in Wash–
ington a nd elsewhere over Bra–
zil 's increasing nuclea r potentia l.
A rge ntin a Forge s Ahead
Neigbboring Argentina is a lso
pressing a head with an ambitious
nuclea r energy program of its
own . That nat ion is bidding to
become Latín America's leading
na ti on in th e nucl ea r powe r
industry.
While the nuclear accident in
Ha r risburg, Pennsylva nia ( the
Three Mile lsla nd nuclea r pla nt) ,
spa rked hea ted debate over the
safety of atomic energy in ma ny
countries ( including Brazil), Ar-
of neut rons in atomic reactors. l t
slows down the fast-moving neu–
t rons produced by fission (atom–
splitt ing) making them more ef–
fective for producing additional
nuclear changes. Both Atucha 1
and Argent ina's Candu reactor
use heavy water as a coolant.
The benefit of this type of
reactor is that it is able to burn
natural
uranium, which is much
less expensive and more easi ly
obtai nable than enriched, com–
mercial-grade uranium.
MEXICO
Mex ico's Lagun a Verde plant,
now under construct ion, is due to
come on s t ream in 1982-some
five years behind schedule.
It
is
being supplied by the U.S. Gen–
eral Elect ric company's subsidia–
ry, Ebasco.
This reactor, and another Gen–
eral Electric plant scheduled to
be insta lled later, are designed to
burn enriched uranium, to be
suppl ied by t he Uni ted S tates.
The two General Electric reac–
tors will be capable of producing
a joint total of 654 megawatts.
Plans for subsequent reactors
have not yet been fi nalized. The
government is s t ill debating the
respective meri ts of various pro–
posed systems, incl udi ng those
being otfered by West Germany.
gentina has ca lmly fo rged a head
wi th its vast nuclear energy pro–
gram.
Argentina got a n ea rly sta r t in
the field. Argenti ne a tomic ener–
gy resea rch a nd deve lopmen t
bega n in the 1950s under the fi rst
Pe ronis t regime. The country
bui lt its firs t experimental reac–
tor in 1955.
Now, Argent ina's Comisión
Naciona l de Ene rgía Atómi ca
(CNEA) has a nnounced a $10
billion, 20-yea r nuclea r powe r
program. The program ca lls for
putting a total of six nuclear
power plants on line by the year
2000.
This will give Argentina 3,400
megawatts of nuclear generati ng
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