Argentina plans to revive nuclear energy sector

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina, Aug 24 (Reuters) Argentina's government has launched a nuclear energy plan that includes the completion of a third plant and the enrichment of uranium after a nearly ten-year lull.

Argentina's energy needs have soared as the economy rebounds from a devastating 2001-2002 crisis, but supplies are limited by low investment and frozen tariffs. The government is using its hefty budget surplus to jump-start the sector.

The country has two nuclear plants producing 8.2 per cent of the electricity it consumes. A third plant, Atucha II, is still unfinished some 26 years after it was started.

Planning Minister Julio De Vido said 1.8 billion pesos (583 million dollar) will be invested to finish building Atucha II, which should be operating by the second half of 2010. The possibility of building a fourth plant will also be studied.

''This endeavor has vital significance for the country, not only in providing electrical energy, but also in reactivating the entire scientific, technological and industrial spectrum associated with the nuclear field,'' De Vido said in a statement yesterday.

Argentina is also home to an experimental plant for enriching uranium, a technology the country has mastered since 1983 but barely used in the 1990s.

De Vido said Argentina will once again work to enrich uranium, but ''always within the framework of strict adherence to the peaceful use of nuclear energy and in compliance with nonproliferation treaties signed by Argentina.'' An energy crunch in the last three years has led Argentina's government to limit natural gas exports to Chile, import fuel oil from Venezuela and expand purchases of Bolivian gas.

REUTERS VJ BS0803