China Signs Agreements For Two Reactors In Argentina

17 Nov (NucNet): China has agreed to finance Argentina’s fourth and fifth nuclear plants in a deal that will showcase Chinese technology and could be worth up to $15bn (€14bn), the government of Argentina said on its website. Argentina said the first agreement was for “the realisation” of the fourth plant, Atucha-3, and the second was a framework agreement for the implementation of the fifth. The agreements, signed in Turkey during the G20 meetings, will see China provide most of the financing for the two new plants. State-owned utility Nucleoeléctrica confirmed in a statement that Chinese banks and companies will provide loans and investment to cover 85 percent of cost of the project for Atucha-3, with the loans to be paid back over 18 years with an annual interest rate below 6.5 percent. Atucha-3 will cost about $6bn and use Canadian Candu nuclear technology while the fifth plant will use China’s indigenous Hualong One reactor, which Beijing is trying to promote for export. The China Daily newspaper said about 30 Hualong One nuclear units are likely to be exported by 2030. Both Argentina units will be built by state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation in cooperation with Nucleoeléctrica. Neither side gave details about where the fifth plant would be built.