The Embalse Nuclear Power Station ( es, Central Nuclear Embalse) is one of three operational
nuclear power plant
A nuclear power plant (NPP) is a thermal power station in which the heat source is a nuclear reactor. As is typical of thermal power stations, heat is used to generate steam that drives a steam turbine connected to a generator that produces ...
s in
Argentina
Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
. It is located on the southern shore of a
reservoir
A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation.
Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contr ...
on the Río Tercero, near the city of
Embalse,
Córdoba, 110 km south-southwest of
Córdoba City.
The plant is a
CANDU
The CANDU (Canada Deuterium Uranium) is a Canadian pressurized heavy-water reactor design used to generate electric power. The acronym refers to its deuterium oxide ( heavy water) moderator and its use of (originally, natural) uranium fuel. C ...
Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor
A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor that uses heavy water ( deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. PHWRs frequently use natural uranium as fuel, but sometimes also use very low enriched uranium. The ...
(PHWR). It employs
natural uranium
Natural uranium (NU or Unat) refers to uranium with the same isotopic ratio as found in nature. It contains 0.711% uranium-235, 99.284% uranium-238, and a trace of uranium-234 by weight (0.0055%). Approximately 2.2% of its radioactivity comes ...
(that is, with 0.72% of
235U) and uses
heavy water for cooling and neutron moderation. It has a thermal power of 2,109
MWth, and generates 648
MWe of electricity, with a net output of about 600 MW
e, supplying nearly 4.5% of the production of the
Argentine Interconnection System (2005).
Additionally, Embalse produces the
cobalt-60
Cobalt-60 (60Co) is a synthetic radioactive isotope of cobalt with a half-life of 5.2713 years. It is produced artificially in nuclear reactors. Deliberate industrial production depends on neutron activation of bulk samples of the monoisot ...
radioisotope, which is employed in medicine (cancer therapy) and industrial applications. Argentina is one of the largest producers and exporters of this isotope in the world,
along with
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...
.
Embalse was started in 1974 and began operation in 1983 (first criticality 13 March 1983, declared commercial 20 January 1984). It was built by an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
-Canadian consortium formed by
AECL, acting as the
"turn-key" supplier of the nuclear portion, and
Italimpianti, the "turn-key" supplier of the conventional portion.
On 31 December 2015, the plant was taken offline, having completed its first operating cycle of about 30 years.
On 1 September 2016, the plant received the last two of four
steam generators, fundamental elements for the life extension of the plant. The plant was reconditioned to deliver power for another 30 years: the replacement of the four steam generators was one of the key steps.
The plant was restarted on 4 January 2019,
with power upgraded to a gross capacity of 683 MW and 635 MW net.
See also
*
National Atomic Energy Commission
The National Atomic Energy Commission ( es, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica, CNEA) is the Argentine government agency in charge of nuclear energy research and development.
The agency was created on May 31, 1950, with the mission of dev ...
*
Atucha I Nuclear Power Plant
*
Atucha II Nuclear Power Plant
References
*
*
*
Nuclear power stations in Argentina
Science and technology in Argentina
Nuclear power stations using CANDU reactors
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