Embalse Nuclear Power Station

F1

Active reactors ( gross ):

The Embalse nuclear power plant (Spanish Central Nuclear Embalse, CNE ) is a nuclear power plant in the province of Córdoba ( Argentina). It is located on the southern bank of a reservoir on the Río Tercero, near the city of Embalse, Córdoba province, 110 km south-west of the province capital. It is in operation since 1984 and consists of a CANDU reactor ( type 6). Owners and operators is the Nucleoelectrica Argentina SA

Construction and operation

The construction of the Embalse nuclear power plant began in April 1974. The reactor was on March 13, 1983 for the first time critical. He was first synchronized on 25 April 1983 the power grid and went on January 20, 1984 in commercial operation. The operator Nucleoelectrica Argentina SA is planning to renovate the nuclear power plant and to extend the operating time so until after 2030. Preparations for this renovation has already begun.

Reactor / power

It consists of a CANDU reactor type 6 with a net electrical output of 600 MW and a gross capacity of 648 MW, built by Canada. It uses natural uranium (0.72 % U-235 component). It has a thermal power of 2,109 MWth and is one of two nuclear power plants in Argentina and at the same time the most powerful in the country, which provides about 4.5 % of the Argentine demand for electrical energy. The other is the nuclear power plant Atucha ( Buenos Aires Province ). Was built the nuclear power plant of an Italian- Canadian consortium of Atomic Energy of Canada Limited ( AECL ) and Italimpianti.

Incident

In the nuclear power plant on June 30, 1983, a severe accident (overheating of the cooling circuit ), which could be, however, brought by employees under control occurred. 1986 was another incident when heavy water came from the power plant. Both incidents were kept secret by the authorities for a long time, only the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA ) has been informed. Only by researching succeeded the media to bring the incident to the public. By 2007, a total of ten incidents occurred.

The workforce in achieving the first criticality of the reactor

Data of the reactor units

The Embalse nuclear power plant has a total of one block: