Framatome could restart Atucha II construction

French nuclear company Framatome could restart construction of Argentina's 745MW Atucha II nuclear project in August 2004, according to a proposal by the Argentine government, newspaper El Cronista reported. The president of Argentina's state nuclear company Nasa, Eduardo Messi, is scheduled to meet with Germany's Siemens to work out a new work schedule to wrap up the project. Framatome used to be a Siemens subsidiary, but now the German company holds just 34%, with France's Areva group owning the remaining 66%. According to the proposal, Argentina's federal government would provide US$300mn and the rest would come from loans provided by the German government, which would be conditional on the payment of debts to Siemens. Construction has been delayed for more than 10 years. Some US$2.6bn has already been invested in the project, which is estimated to need an additional US$480mn for completion. Work on Atucha II started in 1981 and was scheduled for completion by 1987, but got delayed by financing problems. Today about 80% of the engineering work is completed and most of the remaining work is needed to install electrical equipment. The postponement costs Argentina US$1mn a month just to maintain the sophisticated equipment at the plant, whichis needed to provide a reliable electricity supply at a time when generators are warning of possible power cuts due to rising demand. Argentina has two nuclear plants in operation: Atucha (335MW) and Embalse (600MW).