In this regard, the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, said in the social network X: “Contrary to what developed countries do, Milei’s government decided to halt the construction of the Argentine CAREM reactor, a strategic project, 100% national, and which placed us at the forefront of nuclear technology worldwide.”
What is CAREM?
He CAREM It is the first nuclear power reactor entirely designed and built in Argentina. It belongs to the family of small modular reactors (SMR), defined as nuclear reactors generally equivalent to 300 MWe or less, designed with modular technology using factory-based manufacturing of modules, seeking mass production economies and short construction times (NEA, 2021).
Through Law 26.566, sanctioned on November 25, 2009, under the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, in its article 16 it is declared of national interest and the CNEA is entrusted with the design, execution and start-up of the CAREM Reactor Prototype to be built in the country (Infoleg, 2009).
The prototype is being built in the “Atucha Nuclear Complex”, Lima, Buenos Aires Province. Civil works began on February 8, 2014, making CAREM the first SMR in the world to begin construction, and its completion was estimated for the end of this decade.
This first version of the reactors type CAREM will be able to generate 32 MWeThe commercial module will have a higher capacity of between 100 and 120 MWe, which would be the basis of a multi-reactor plant. In addition, it is expected that around 70% of its inputs, components and related services will be provided by Argentine companies certified under international quality standards.
Among the national suppliers is IMPSA, the first company to be privatized by Milei, which has a signed agreement with the CNEA for the manufacture of auxiliary components for CAREM. In short, privatizations and the halting of works, nothing new in the country.
“Freedom” and interference: two sides of the same coin
The national government is displaying an energy policy led by the oil sector, both nationally and internationally, with a clear alignment with the United States, where sectors such as the nuclear sector have no reason to exist in the country of “freedom.”
It is necessary to review recent history, the nuclear sector has been in decline for 8 years, after the assumption of the government of Mauricio Macri and the taking on of debt with the International Monetary Fund on June 20, 2018, the large nuclear projects – 4th and 5th nuclear power plants – stated in law 26,566, have been paralyzed, under the United States’ objective, on the one hand, of preventing China from entering Latin America with investments in the sector, and on the other, dismantling the Argentine nuclear sector.
He CAREM projectalthough it suffered from the Macri policy that had entrusted the work to Techint – a company that constantly suspended the work to request price adjustments -; during Alberto Fernández’s administration, the construction and technical assistance was entrusted to Nucleoeléctrica Argentina SA with significant progress, which anticipated the completion of the project at the end of this decade.
Likewise, the US lobby to block Argentine nuclear development continued during Fernández’s administration, to the point that in April 2022, Ann GaznerUS Undersecretary for Nuclear Nonproliferation, toured nuclear facilities in the country and the US embassy transmitted the following message: “If the Chinese enter Atucha, we want to enter CAREM,” as reported by Página 12
In short, he recently visited the country Jose W. FernandezU.S. Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment, and announced the Clean Energy Transition Accelerator Project (CETA) in Argentina, which proposes to provide the Argentine government with $500,000 in technical assistance to accelerate Argentina’s transition to clean energy.
Is it a coincidence that, on the one hand, the anarcho-capitalist government is dismantling the nuclear sector little by little, and, on the other hand, that the northern country is financing a technical assistance project to accelerate the energy transition?
Nuclear energy and a libertarian cocktail
The economic model that the libertarian government has introduced to the country aims to design an Argentina that supplies raw materials, and consequently, the destruction of the national productive structure. The results have been: recession, a 19.5% year-on-year drop in industrial activity in June, and a 54.5% utilization of installed capacity in industry during the month of July.
In this context, it must be read that the stoppage of the work of the CAREM Due to budget cuts, it is part of the construction of a model of a country without industry, of misery and hunger for the majority of the Argentine people.
Carem render
When canceling the CAREM projectthe opportunity to enter the world as a supplier of modular reactors at a crucial moment, when this type of technology will be in demand for the energy transitions of different countries, will be lost. In addition, the consequent loss of highly qualified workers – technicians and professionals – will cause a “nuclear exodus”.
The libertarian cocktail: recession, decline in industrial activity, RIGI, privatizations, adjustment and repression; it is not the nectar of the Gods, but rather, it is the key to deindustrialization and the dismantling of the scientific and technological sector that will lead us to a colonial Argentina of the 21st century.
Electrical Engineer (UNRC), Master in Energy Management (UNLa), Diploma in Strategic Anticipation and Risk Management (UNDEF), Director of the Energy, Science and Technology Observatory (OECYT) associated with the People and Science platform. Professor at UNPAZ. @nicomalinovsky
Source: Ambito
