Why are they paralyzing the construction of a nuclear power plant with Chinese capital in Argentina?

Unions linked to the energy sector demonstrated to demand the continuity of the Atucha III project: the construction, with Chinese capital, of the fourth Argentine nuclear power plant.

The uncertainty grows as the work is not planned in the national public budget for 2023.

Unionized workers linked to the energy sector complained to the federal government for the resumption of the works of the Atucha III Nuclear Power Plant in the town of Lima, province of Buenos Aires.

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The construction of Atucha III, the fourth nuclear power plant in the country, is one of the most significant infrastructure projects signed between Argentina and China, with an investment of around US$8.3 billion.

However, uncertainty took hold of the unions linked to the construction of the plant, when it was confirmed that it was not contemplated in the budget of the national Executive Power for the year 2023.

“We are affected and we are very concerned about the suspension of the construction of Argentina’s fourth nuclear power plant,” said the delegate of the State Workers Association (ATE) in Atucha, Ernesto Simionato.

Simionato stressed that in the nuclear sector “one cannot speak of a full reactivation because they have just suspended a project of such complexity.” The suspension not only has effects on national energy sovereignty, he pointed out, but also on the labor level.

“We don’t want […] to have to fight for dismissed colleagues again, because we know how it ends when a project of this magnitude is stopped,” said the union leader, recalling the almost 2,000 dismissals at the Atucha Complex during the government by Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).

“If they don’t take us into account on their agenda, we are going to have to protest wherever this is clear, we are here to bank the workers who were hopeful about this project,” concluded Simionato.

On February 1, 2022, the contract was signed between Nucleoeléctrica Argentina S.A. and the China National Nuclear Corporation for the construction of Atucha III, the fourth nuclear power plant in the country, with an initial useful life of 60 years.

The works foresaw the creation of 7,000 jobs and the integration of 40% of national suppliers.

With information from Sputnik

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